Baseball

School basketball rankings: Kentucky drops in AP Prime 25, South Carolina in ballot for first time since 2017

5 February 2024

The final week on the hardwood was not form to Kentucky after dropping twice at house and surrendering 197 factors within the course of, and neither had been AP voters on Monday as they reshuffled their newest rankings. The up to date AP Prime 25 ballot dropped the Wildcats out of the highest 10 for the primary time in two months from No. 10 to No. 17, making them the second-largest faller of the week behind Texas Tech, which fell eight spots to No. 23.

Kentucky’s seven-spot drop to No. 17 is the primary time since Week 6 it has been ranked exterior the highest 10 of the AP ballot and it marks the bottom rating of the season for the struggling Wildcats, which had been additionally ranked No. 17 in Week 2 — on Nov. 13. It started the week with an time beyond regulation loss at house to Florida, 94-91, then gave up 103 factors to visiting Tennessee over the weekend, giving it a 3rd loss in its final 4 video games.

That very same Tennessee group that romped UK in Rupp dropped one spot within the ballot from No. 5 to No. 6 after falling to South Carolina earlier within the week earlier than rebounding with a convincing win. South Carolina defeated the Vols and Georgia to rocket up the ranks from unranked to No. 15, giving the Gamecocks their first look within the AP ballot since 2016-17 and their highest-ranking since 1998.

In the meantime, on the prime of the ballot, the same old suspects remained with UConn, Purdue and North Carolina all clinging to the highest three spots. Each of the Huskies and Boilermakers went an ideal 2-0 on the week whereas UNC went 1-1 to maintain the identical prime three intact for a 3rd consecutive week. Purdue, although, siphoned three first-place votes away from UConn this week, incomes 16 of the 61 whereas the remaining 45 went to the defending champions.