Ten months ago Kentucky was playing in the National Invitation Tournament. Now it’s on top of the college basketball word, unanimously ranked No. 1 in both major polls for the first time this season.Following Kentucky’s 101-70 rout of Arkansas and Texas’ two straight losses last week, the Cats have taken over the top spot in both the Associated Press Top 25 and the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, picking up all 65 first-place votes in the AP and all 31 in the Coaches Poll. It’s the first time UK has been ranked No. 1 since March 2003.”I think our kids are excited about it,” head coach John Calipari said. “I think they wanted to be No. 1, which is a good sign, and now we are trying to teach them what it means to be No. 1. We talked at my house last night about it. What will come at them now (are) the different obstacles, different distractions that will take you away from what you’re trying to do. An added level of that comes with being No. 1.”
Although they downplayed the rankings beforehand, there was a noticeable sparkle in the eyes of the players now that they’re the top team in the country.
“It means a lot,” freshman guard John Wall said. “It shows us that coach Cal is doing what he’s supposed to. He’s getting us better and we’re doing good as a basketball team. It’s not where we want to be. We’re thankful to be No. 1 in the country. That means a lot, that means you’re working hard and you’re winning games, but you want to be that No. 1 overall seed when that tournament comes.” UK easily beat out Kansas for the top spot, which came in at No. 2 in both rankings. Villanova, Syracuse and Michigan State followed at No. 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Last week’s No. 1, Texas, dropped to No. 6 in both polls.
Calipari’s Cats will now face similar expectations as to what the Longhorns faced over the last two weeks. How UK’s players respond to the pressure will determine their staying power.
“It will be everything,” Calipari said. “You’ll have people coming out of the woodwork, ticket requests out of the woodwork, media requests and how we deal with those. All of the sudden, the guy who isn’t very good looking becomes a beautiful young man. We’ll talk some more and I have some other things to give them before we go on the practice court, but this is a pretty level-headed group.”It’s the 89th week Kentucky has spent atop the AP poll. The Cats haven an all-time mark of 153-23 during that reign.”It feels good (to be No. 1),” junior forward Patrick Patterson said. “It is something we have worked on all year to be number one, and we want the respect of others, and I feel like we have earned that now. Everyone is just happy, and we want to continue working hard and just get better.”AP Top 25 1. Kentucky (65) 19-0 1,625 2. Kansas 18-1 1,519 3. Villanova 18-1 1,503 4. Syracuse 19-1 1,455 5. Michigan State 17-3 1,324 6. Texas 17-2 1,307 7. Georgetown 15-3 1,124 8. Duke 16-3 1,120 9. West Virginia 15-3 1,113 10. Purdue 16-3 977 11. Kansas State 16-3 960 12. Brigham Young 20-1 894 13. Gonzaga 16-3 847 14. Tennessee 15-3 837 15. Temple 17-3 707 16. Wisconsin 16-4 635 17. Pittsburgh 15-4 599 18. Mississippi 15-4 411 19. Connecticut 13-6 286 20. Ohio State 14-6 270 21. Vanderbilt 15-3 264 22. Georgia Tech 14-5 194 23. New Mexico 18-3 180 24. Baylor 15-3 157 25. UAB 17-2 125 ESPN/USA Today Poll 1. Kentucky (31) 19-0 775 2. Kansas 18-1 739 3. Villanova 18-1 714 4. Syracuse 19-1 680 5. Michigan State 17-3 627 6. Texas 17-2 613 7. Duke 16-3 555 8. Gonzaga 16-3 533 9. West Virginia 15-3 506 10. Brigham Young 20-1 485 11. Georgetown 15-3 483 12. Purdue 16-3 420 13. Kansas State 16-3 409 14. Tennessee 15-3 385 15. Temple 17-3 339 16. Wisconsin 16-4 282 17. Pittsburgh 15-4 267 18. Butler 16-4 213 19. Connecticut 13-6 199 20. Mississippi 15-4 151 21. Clemson 15-5 112 22. Georgia Tech 14-5 105 23. Vanderbilt 15-3 71 24. Ohio State 14-6 62 25. Northern Iowa 17-2 60
