UK Fans of the Day want to talk more about Kentucky being No. 9 in the Preseason AP Poll

kentucky-preseason-ap-poll-college-basketball-nine-notes — Kentucky fans celebrate at Big Blue Madness - Dr. Michael Huang, Kentucky Sports Radio

Kentucky will begin the quest for its ninth national championship as the ninth-ranked team in the AP Poll. Factor in this season marking the 30th anniversary of the 1996 team winning it all with Mark Pope as captain, and it truly feels like the stars are aligning for a special run.

Preseason polls are meaningless, but on the Monday after a very fun Big Blue Madness, we’re leaning in. Here are some notes about the first AP Poll, which is now in its 77th season.

Kentucky’s range: No. 2 to No. 15

Thanks to College Poll Tracker, we can see each AP voter’s ballot. One voter, Owen Siebring of KGAN-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, had the Cats as high as No. 2. Houston was No. 1 on Siebring’s ballot, followed by Kentucky, Duke, Texas Tech, and Purdue. The Boilermakers are the overall No. 1 in the AP Poll, with 35 of the 61 first-place votes.

One voter (Randy Heitz – 107.7 The Franchise in Norman, OK) ranked Kentucky No. 3, and another (Chris Lea – WRAL-TV, Raleigh, NC) had the Cats at No. 4. Most voters had Kentucky at No. 8. Two voters, UConn beat writer Dave Borges and Nebraska sportscaster Kevin Sjuts, ranked the Cats as low as No. 15.

Ten AP Top 25 foes (11 if you count Purdue)

Need further proof that Kentucky’s schedule is loaded? The Cats will face ten AP Top 25 teams this year, eleven if you count the exhibition against No. 1 Purdue on October 24. Kentucky plays Florida (No. 3) and Tennessee (No. 18) twice, so that’s a total of 12 regular-season games against Top 25 foes this season. Five of them come before the end of the calendar year, with the remaining seven taking place during SEC play.

Sure, the exhibition vs. No. 1 Purdue won’t count, but try telling yourself that if the Cats pull off the win.

No. 1 Purdue – Oct. 24 (exhibition, home)
No. 11 Louisville – Nov. 11 (away)
No. 22 Michigan State – Nov. 18 (neutral)
No. 25 North Carolina – Dec. 2 (home)
No. 21 Gonzaga – Dec. 5 (neutral)
No. 5 St. John’s – Dec. 20 (neutral)
No. 15 Alabama – Jan. 3 (away)
No. 18 Tennessee – Jan. 17 (away)
No. 14 Arkansas – Jan. 31 (away)
No. 18 Tennessee – Feb. 7 (home)
No. 3 Florida – Feb. 14 (away)
No. 20 Auburn – Feb. 21 (away)
No. 3 Florida – Mar. 7 (home)

SEC tied with Big Ten, Big 12 with six Top 25 teams

Last year, the SEC dominated college basketball, sending a record 14 teams to the NCAA Tournament, half of which made it to the Sweet 16. Florida brought home the title, one of two teams representing the SEC in the Final Four in San Antonio.

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The SEC is supposed to be good again this season, but the rest of the pack is catching up. The SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 each had six teams in the Top 25. Of those six, only Florida (No. 3) and Kentucky (No. 9) rank in the top ten:

No. 3 Florida
No. 9 Kentucky
No. 14 Arkansas
No. 15 Alabama
No. 18 Tennessee
No. 20 Auburn

Six more SEC teams received votes: Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, and Oklahoma.

Highest preseason ranking since 2022-23

How do preseason rankings compare to the actual results? Last year’s team, Mark Pope’s first in Lexington, was No. 23 in the 2024-25 Preseason AP Poll and went to the Sweet 16. Overachievers! Of course, the opposite happens much more often. Kentucky was routinely ranked in the top ten of the Preseason AP Poll under John Calipari and, as the years went on, did not have the results to match.

Season	Preseason AP Poll Ranking	Season Result
2025-26	No. 9	TBD
2024-25	No. 23	24-12 (10-8 SEC); Sweet 16
2023-24	No. 16	23-10 (13-5 SEC); NCAA Tournament First Round
2022-23	No. 4	22-12 (12-6 SEC); NCAA Tournament Second Round
2021-22	No. 10	26-8 (14-4 SEC); NCAA Tournament First Round
2020-21	No. 10	9-16 (8-9 SEC)
2019-20	No. 2	25-6 (15-3 SEC); Postseason Canceled due to COVID
2018-19	No. 2	30-7 (15-3 SEC); Elite Eight
2017-18	No. 5	26-11 (10-8 SEC); Sweet 16
2016-17	No. 2	32-6 (16-2 SEC); Elite Eight
2015-16	No. 2	27-9 (13-5 SEC); NCAA Tournament Second Round
2014-15	No. 1	38-2 (18-0 SEC); Final Four
2013-14	No. 1	29-11 (12-6 SEC); National Championship game

Kentucky leads all programs with 992 AP Poll appearances

As mentioned, this is the 77th year for the AP Poll, and the 65th in which there has been a preseason edition. Kentucky has made the Top 25 cut in 58 of those polls, and leads all programs in overall AP Poll appearances at 992. The next poll will come out on Nov. 10, the Monday following the first week of the season. That puts Kentucky on schedule for its 1,000th AP Poll appearance on December 29. Call it a late Christmas present or early New Year’s Eve gift, it’s yet another reason to celebrate Kentucky Basketball.

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