Kentucky’s climb to the top is nearly complete.Following Kansas’ loss to Tennessee on Sunday, Kentucky has moved up to No. 2 in both major polls this week. Texas took over the top spot for the first time this season and Kansas fell to No. 3.It’s the highest ranking for the men’s basketball team since checking in at No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 in the final week of the 2003-04 season.UK picked up nine of the 65 first-place votes in the AP poll and one of the 31 first-place votes in the ESPN/USA Today Poll. Also, Joe Lunardi of ESPN revealed his latest edition of Bracketology. The Cats (of course) remained a No. 1 seed, this time in the East region against UC Santa Barbara or the winner of the Big West.
Inexplicably, the women’s basketball team remained outside of the AP Top 25 this week despite a near upset of now-No. 6 Georgia and previously ranked Vanderbilt. The Cats picked up 35 receiving votes, good enough for 27th.
AP Top 25 1. Texas (56) 15-0 1,616 2. Kentucky (9) 16-0 1,569 3. Kansas 14-1 1,441 4. Villanova 14-1 1,426 5. Syracuse 15-1 1,353 6. Purdue 14-1 1,317 7. Michigan State 13-3 1,191 8. Duke 13-2 1,178 9. Tennessee 12-2 1,030 10. West Virginia 12-2 1,006 11. Georgetown 12-2 934 12. North Carolina 12-4 844 13. Kansas State 13-2 746 13. Wisconsin 13-3 746 15. Connecticut 11-4 633 16. Pittsburgh 13-2 565 17. Gonzaga 12-3 559 18. Brigham Young 16-1 456 19. Temple 13-3 388 20. Georgia Tech 12-3 342 21. Mississippi 12-3 326 22. Baylor 13-1 301 23. Miami (FL) 15-1 189 24. Clemson 13-3 167 25. Florida State 13-3 155ESPN/USA Today Poll 1. Texas (30) 15-0 774 2. Kentucky (1) 16-0 745 3. Kansas 14-1 697 4. Villanova 14-1 681 5. Syracuse 15-1 641 6. Purdue 14-1 625 7. Duke 13-2 578 8. Michigan State 13-3 556 9. West Virginia 12-2 471 10. Tennessee 12-2 463 11. Georgetown 12-2 439 12. Kansas State 13-2 375 13. North Carolina 12-4 362 14. Gonzaga 12-3 345 15. Connecticut 11-4 293 16. Wisconsin 13-3 289 17. Brigham Young 16-1 285 18. Georgia Tech 12-3 261 19. Clemson 13-3 213 20. Pittsburgh 13-2 201 21. Temple 13-3 151 22. Butler 12-4 106 23. Mississippi 12-3 90 24. Baylor 13-1 66 25. Florida State 13-3 65
