Kentucky No. 15 on Seth Davis' AP Top 25 ballot

We’ll find out if Kentucky is still in the AP Top 25 around lunchtime. At least one AP voter has the Cats not only in but high on his ballot this week.

Seth Davis ranked Kentucky No. 15 in the AP Poll this week. That’s up from No. 24 a week ago. As you know, since then, the Cats lost to Vanderbilt at home and beat Arkansas on the road — without Cason Wallace. Davis was impressed by how the Cats banded together and pulled off a win in Fayetteville.

Yes, I realize Kentucky lost at home to Vanderbilt, but let me make two points here. First, Vanderbilt is not a bad team. Second, it’s one thing to lose an important player like Cason Wallace, but when you lose him during the course of a game, the team is not at all prepared to play without him. Given a couple of days to prepare, John Calipari came up with a great game plan, and he went into Bud Walton Arena to face an Arkansas team that really, really needed a win — and his Wildcats emerged with a convincing 88-79 win. Kentucky’s metrics are solid (13-26), and its ranking reflects that.

Seth Davis

Andy Katz is not an AP voter but also moved Kentucky up in his rankings this week. The Cats are No. 12 in the Power 36 this week, a five-spot bump from last week.

“John Calipari is doing one of his best coaching jobs in the latter part of the season,” Katz wrote. “Crazy to say but the Wildcats have flown under the radar.”

Gary Parrish isn’t convinced. He still doesn’t have Kentucky in his Top 25-and-One this week; however, his CBS Sports colleague Kyle Boone did name the Cats — specifically Antonio Reeves — one of the “Winners” of the week in college basketball.

Without the services of lead guards Cason Wallace and Sahvir Wheeler, Kentucky stole a huge win on the road over Arkansas in Fayetteville behind a career-high 37-point explosion from sharpshooter Antonio Reeves. Reeves had a respectable 15 points in the opening 20 minutes before going nuclear with 22 in the second half, finishing the game 12-of-17 shooting and a perfect 11 of 11 from the free throw line. Kentucky’s spot in the NCAA Tournament was never in doubt )it is a projected 7-seed according to CBS Sports Bracketology Expert Jerry Palm), but the win helped UK secure the 3-seed and the important double-bye in the SEC Tournament. 

Kyle Boone, CBS Sports

We’ll find out for sure soon enough. The AP Poll drops around noon, and the Coaches Poll shortly thereafter.