Kentucky’s slow fall in the polls continues. After the win at Oklahoma and lopsided loss to Auburn, the Cats fell two spots to No. 19 in the new AP Poll. They’re barely hanging on in the Coaches Poll, coming in at No. 24, down one spot last week.
Auburn remains the No. 1 team in both polls, which, as we saw on Saturday, is for very good reason. The Tigers received all 61 first-place votes in the AP Poll and 30 of the 31 first-place votes in the Coaches Poll (the other went to Duke). Duke is No. 2 in the AP Poll. Houston is No. 3 and Tennessee is No. 4. After losing at Georgia, Florida slipped from No. 3 to No. 5. Rick Pitino’s St. John’s is up one spot to No. 6, followed by Alabama at No. 7. Missouri, Saturday’s opponent in Columbia, fell one spot to No. 15. Texas A&M fell ten spots to No. 22. The Aggies have lost four straight.
In total, there are eight teams from the SEC in the AP Top 25, with Mississippi State hanging on at No. 25. After back-to-back wins over top-15 teams, Vanderbilt is just outside, receiving the second most votes behind VCU. Ole Miss is also among the group of teams receiving votes, along with Gonzaga. Louisville is now ranked higher than the Cats, climbing five spots to No. 14 in the AP Poll and No. 13 in the Coaches Poll.
AP College Basketball Poll – March 3
RKTEAMRECPTSTREND1Auburn (61)27-21525–2Duke26-31458–3Houston25-41396+14Tennessee24-51326+15Florida25-41247-26St. John’s26-41179+17Alabama23-61176-18Michigan State24-51165–9Texas Tech22-7947+110Iowa State22-7918-111Clemson24-5905+212Wisconsin22-7815-113Maryland22-7628+314Louisville23-6606+515Missouri21-8603-116Memphis24-5560+217Michigan22-7494-218Purdue20-9454+219Kentucky19-10417-220Marquette22-7409+121Saint Mary’s27-4399+222Texas A&M20-9364-1023BYU21-8287+224Arizona19-10162-225Mississippi State20-987-1
Others Receiving Votes: VCU 85, Vanderbilt 78, Oregon 37, Drake 18, UC San Diego 17, Illinois 16, Mississippi 13, UCLA 8, Gonzaga 8, Kansas 5, High Point 4, UConn 4, New Mexico 2, Creighton 2, Akron 1
USA Today Coaches Poll – March 3
RankTeamRecordPTSChg1Auburn27-2774 (30)–2Duke26-3737 (1)–3Houston25-4707+14Tennessee24-5671+15Florida25-4653-26St. John’s26-4612+17Michigan State24-5587+18Alabama23-6566-29Texas Tech22-7504+110Iowa State22-7484-111Clemson24-5442+312Wisconsin22-7391–13Louisville23-6365+414Maryland22-7341+115Michigan22-7288-216Memphis24-5272+217Saint Mary’s27-4262+318Purdue20-9257+119Missouri21-8236-320Marquette22-7204+221Texas A&M20-9169-1022BYU21-8127+423Arizona19-1091-224Kentucky19-1088-125VCU24-554+3
Schools Dropped Out: No. 24 Mississippi State; No. 25 Creighton;
Others Receiving Votes: Mississippi State 38; New Mexico 24; Creighton 24; UC San Diego 21; Vanderbilt 17; Gonzaga 17; Oregon 14; UConn 10; Drake 10; UCLA 9; Illinois 6; Ole Miss 2; Boise State 1;
Kentucky in other National Rankings
Everyone but Jon Rothstein dropped Kentucky in their rankings this week, with Andy Katz putting them out of the Top 25 in his Power 37.
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