Kentucky Basketball Still Outside Top 25 Polls

Kentucky played a rare must-win in December and took care of business by grinding out a victory over Indiana. The 72-60 win wasn’t the prettiest, but they got it done.

The NET Rankings and advanced metrics believe the Wildcats are knocking on the door, but the pollsters were not impressed enough to slide Kentucky into the Top 25 after the win.

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Kentucky is receiving votes in both the AP Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll. Kentucky got 19 votes in the AP Poll, which puts them at No. 30 overall. The nine votes from the coaches slates the Cats at No. 31.

Kentucky has an opportunity to get a win worthy enough to climb back into the Top 25. The Wildcats face St. John’s in Saturday’s CBS Sports Classic. Rick Pitino’s team is No. 20 in the Coaches Poll and No. 22 by the AP.

AP Poll — Dec. 15

Rank	Record / Conference	Record	Movement	Last Week	Points
1	Arizona	9-0	–	@ Alabama W 96-75	1500 (42)
2	Michigan	10-0	–	@ Maryland W 101-83	1470 (15)
3	Duke	10-0	–	–	1406 (3)
4	Iowa State	11-0	–	vs. Eastern Illinois W 78-53	1336 (1)
5	UConn	10-1	–	vs. Texas W 71-63	1286 (0)
6	Purdue	10-1	–	vs. Marquette W 79-59	1195 (0)
7	Gonzaga	10-1	+1	vs. UCLA W 82-72	1109 (0)
8	Houston	10-1	-1	vs. New Orleans W 99-57	1079 (0)
9	Michigan State	9-1	–	@ Penn State W 76-72	1037 (0)
10	BYU	9-1	–	vs. UC Riverside W 100-53	1017 (0)
11	Louisville	9-1	–	vs. Memphis W 99-73	921 (0)
12	North Carolina	9-1	+2	vs. USC Upstate W 80-62	794 (0)
13	Vanderbilt	10-0	+2	vs. Central Arkansas W 83-72	766 (0)
14	Arkansas	8-2	+3	@ Texas Tech W 93-86	726 (0)
15	Nebraska	11-0	+8	@ Illinois W 83-80	655 (0)
16	Alabama	7-3	-4	vs. Arizona L 96-75	644 (0)
17	Kansas	8-3	+2	@ NC State W 77-76	502 (0)
18	Illinois	8-3	-5	vs. Nebraska L 83-80	483 (0)
19	Texas Tech	7-3	-3	vs. Arkansas L 93-86	314 (0)
20	Tennessee	7-3	–	–	286 (0)
21	Auburn	8-3	–	vs. Chattanooga W 92-78	283 (0)
22	St. John’s	6-3	–	vs. Iona W 91-64	250 (0)
23	Florida	6-4	-5	vs. George Washington W 80-70	200 (0)
23	Virginia	9-1	+1	vs. Maryland-Eastern Shore W 84-60	200 (0)
25	Georgia	9-1	–	vs. Cincinnati W 84-65	82 (0)

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USA Today Coaches Poll — Dec. 15

Rank	Team	Record	PTS	1st	Prev	Chg	Hi/Lo
1	Michigan	10-0	759	16	1	–	1/7
2	Arizona	9-0	755	14	2	–	2/13
3	Duke	10-0	714	1	3	–	3/5
4	Iowa State	11-0	659	0	4	–	4/18
5	UConn	10-1	641	0	5	–	3/7
6	Purdue	10-1	600	0	6	–	1/6
7	Gonzaga	10-1	574	0	7	–	7/20
8	Houston	10-1	551	0	8	–	2/8
9	Michigan State	9-1	521	0	9	–	8/21
10	BYU	9-1	511	0	10	–	7/11
11	Louisville	9-1	473	0	11	–	5/12
12	Vanderbilt	10-0	390	0	14	+2	12/NR
13	North Carolina	9-1	362	0	15	+2	13/25
14	Arkansas	8-2	347	0	17	+3	14/23
15	Nebraska	11-0	321	0	22	+7	15/NR
16	Alabama	7-3	306	0	12	-4	9/16
17	Kansas	8-3	267	0	19	+2	17/NR
18	Illinois	8-3	232	0	13	-5	8/18
19	Texas Tech	7-3	175	0	16	-3	11/20
20	St. John’s	6-3	155	0	21	+1	6/22
21	Florida	6-4	140	0	18	-3	3/21
22	Virginia	9-1	134	0	25	+3	22/NR
23	Tennessee	7-3	129	0	20	-3	13/23
24	Auburn	8-3	112	0	24	–	22/NR
25	Iowa	9-2	71	0	23	-2	23/NR