Kentucky's standing in the NET Rankings after the Tennessee win

After convincing wins over Vanderbilt and Tennessee, Kentucky is on the cusp on the NET Top 10. The Cats are No. 11 in the new NET rankings, up from No. 16 a week ago. From the SEC, only Auburn (Saturday’s opponent) and LSU are ranked higher, coming in at No. 5 and No. 7, respectively. Kansas, Kentucky’s opponent in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, is No. 8.

There are some big changes in Kentucky’s team sheet, but before we get to that, here’s a look at the current NET Top 25.

NET Top 25 – Through January 16

1. Gonzaga
2. Arizona
3. Villanova
4. Houston
5. Auburn
6. Baylor
7. LSU
8. Kansas
9. Purdue
10. Illinois
11. Kentucky
12. Duke
13. Tennessee
14. Texas
15. UConn
16. Xavier
17. Texas Tech
18. Wisconsin
19. Iowa
20. Iowa State
21. UCLA
22. Loyola Chicago
23. Michigan State
24. Alabama
25. Ohio State

NET changes for the 2021-22 season

This is the fourth season the NCAA has used the NET Rankings as its primary metric to evaluate the strength of teams’ wins and losses. This year, the formula has been tweaked. From now on, the NET will only use two components, adjusted net efficiency rating and Team Value Index (TVI), which is a result-based feature that rewards teams for beating quality opponents, particularly away from home. Win percentage, adjusted win percentage, and scoring margin are no longer used in the NET rankings.

Kentucky’s Team Sheet

What a difference a week makes. Saturday’s thrashing of Tennessee gave Kentucky another Quad 1 win AND Notre Dame moved into the Top 75 of the NET, which bumps the loss in South Bend to Quad 1 as well. The Cats now have zero losses in Quads 2-4, which is a very good thing. Arkansas’ win over LSU on Saturday boosted the Razorbacks from No. 85 to No. 56, which puts Kentucky’s date with the Hogs in Fayetteville on Feb. 26 in Quad 1 for now. That brings the number of Quad 1 games left to nine.

This week, Kentucky can add two more Quad 1 wins to the resume at Texas A&M (No. 51) and at Auburn (No. 5). Not an easy task, but two giant opportunities for the taking.

Quad 1: 2-3

Home: 1-30, Neutral: 1-50, Away: 1-75

NET Ranking	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
5	01/22/2022	@ Auburn	Y
7	01/04/2022	@ LSU	Y	L 60-65
7	02/23/2022	LSU	Y
8	01/29/2022	@ Kansas
12	11/09/2021	Duke (@ New York, NY)		L 71-79
13	02/15/2022	@ Tennessee	Y
13	01/15/2022	Tennessee	Y	W 107-79
24	02/05/2022	@ Alabama	Y
24	02/19/2022	Alabama	Y
25	12/18/2021	Ohio St. (@ Las Vegas, NV)		Canceled
32	12/18/2021	North Carolina (@ Las Vegas, NV)		W 98-69
46	03/05/2022	@ Florida	Y
51	01/19/2022	@ Texas A&M	Y
56	02/26/2022	@ Arkansas	Y
74	12/11/2021	@ Notre Dame		L 62-66

Quad 2: 1-0

Home: 31-75, Neutral: 51-100, Away: 76-135

NET Ranking	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
46	02/12/2022	Florida	Y
48	01/25/2022	Mississippi St.	Y
79	01/11/2022	@ Vanderbilt	Y	W 78-66
112	02/08/2022	@ South Carolina	Y

Quad 3: 2-0

Home: 76-160, Neutral: 101-200, Away: 136-240

NET Ranking	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
79	02/02/2022	Vanderbilt	Y
81	11/19/2021	Ohio		W 77-59
111	12/22/2021	Louisville		Postponed
115	03/01/2022	Ole Miss	Y
129	12/22/2021	Western Ky.		W 95-60

Quad 4: 9-0

Home: 161-357, Neutral: 201-357, Away: 241-357

NET Ranking	Date	Opponent	In Conference?	Result
209	12/07/2021	Southern U.		W 76-64
225	12/29/2021	Missouri	Y	W 83-56
226	01/08/2022	Georgia	Y	W 92-77
281	12/31/2021	High Point		W 92-48
288	11/22/2021	Albany (NY)		W 86-61
308	11/16/2021	Mount St. Mary’s		W 80-55
323	11/26/2021	North Florida		W 86-52
329	11/12/2021	Robert Morris		W 100-60
339	11/29/2021	Central Mich.		W 85-57