Photo by Jeff Houchin
Following their 1-1 start to the season, John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats find themselves at the back of the regular season’s first AP Top-25 poll. Sitting at 10th, SEC foes such as the Auburn Tigers (ninth) and Tennessee Volunteers (fifth) rank ahead of the Wildcats. Taking the top-overall spot are the Duke Blue Devils, who blew out Kentucky on opening night in the Champions Classic.
Kansas slides back to Kentucky’s former spot at second, while Gonzaga and Virginia round out the top four. After Tennessee, Nevada is followed by North Carolina and Villanova for the top-10.
Kentucky is the only team with a loss that remains ranked in the top-10, while Michigan State slides back from 10th to 11th following their opening-night loss to Kansas.
While the Wildcats’ struggles continued Friday night against Southern Illinois, their next six games will be at slated at Rupp Arena. The home stand should allow a disgruntled Kentucky team to find their groove before traveling to Madison Square Garden for a game against Seton Hall in the Citi Hoops Classic.
Following their trip to NYC, Kentucky will return home for a quick matchup with Utah before once again hitting the road to Chicago where they will face North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic.
Stringing together high-quality wins over this stretch should not only keep Kentucky in the AP Top-10 but as well assert them back closer to the top.
