Like every Monday, the basketball news is flooding in. Here are the highlights:
– After an eight-week hiatus, John Wall has recaptured Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week honors. Wall averaged 23.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists in wins over Alabama and No. 12 Tennessee. Kentucky has received a league record 12 weekly awards from the SEC this season, including 10 SEC Freshman of the Week honors. Wall has won the award five times this season.
– Kentucky, of course, remains a No. 1 seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology. Lunardi has the Cats playing in Milwaukee for the first and second rounds in the South Region. Their opponent would be the play-in game winner. The news this week in the mock bracket concerns the SEC. Lunardi, who at one point had six SEC teams in the tournament, has just three (UK, Vanderbilt and Tennessee) in the Big Dance this week.
– The Cats moved up to No. 2 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 following Syracuse’s loss to Louisville. UK picked up three of the 65 first-place votes, with No. 1 Kansas picking up the remaining 62. Kentucky remained at No. 2 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, where UK earned one of the 31 first-place votes. Villanova, Purdue and Syracuse round out the top five in both polls.
AP Top 25 1. Kansas (62) 24-1 1,622 2. Kentucky (3) 24-1 1,557 3. Villanova 22-2 1,482 4. Purdue 21-3 1,403 5. Syracuse 24-2 1,389 6. Duke 21-4 1,278 7. Kansas State 20-4 1,239 8. West Virginia 19-5 1,101 9. Ohio State 20-6 1,068 10. Georgetown 18-6 966 11. Michigan State 20-6 906 12. New Mexico 23-3 888 13. Gonzaga 21-4 830 14. Wisconsin 19-6 697 15. Texas 20-5 674 16. Brigham Young 23-3 669 17. Vanderbilt 19-5 529 18. Butler 23-4 527 19. Pittsburgh 19-6 398 20. Tennessee 18-6 381 21. Temple 20-5 347 22. Baylor 19-5 316 23. Wake Forest 18-5 286 24. Texas A&M 18-6 231 25. Richmond 20-6 101ESPN/USA Today Poll 1. Kansas (30) 24-1 774 2. Kentucky (1) 24-1 745 3. Villanova 22-2 704 4. Purdue 21-3 658 5. Syracuse 24-2 645 6. Duke 21-4 636 7. Kansas State 20-4 580 8. West Virginia 19-5 510 9. Gonzaga 21-4 507 10. Georgetown 18-6 443 11. Michigan State 20-6 432 12. Ohio State 20-6 428 13. Butler 23-4 411 14. Brigham Young 23-3 346 15. New Mexico 23-3 330 16. Wisconsin 19-6 322 17. Texas 20-5 287 18. Tennessee 18-6 241 19. Vanderbilt 19-5 200 20. Temple 20-5 187 21. Pittsburgh 19-6 181 22. Baylor 19-5 102 23. Texas A&M 18-6 98 24. Northern Iowa 22-3 73 25. Wake Forest 18-5 58
