Cats move up to No. 2 in the polls

The Louisville Cardinals helped UK (24-1, 9-1 Southeastern Conference) in a couple different ways.

With the Cardinals 66-60 victory at Syracuse yesterday afternoon, the Cats are the new No. 2 team in the land in the Associated Press top 25. And while UK is well on pace to earn a No. 1 seed, the Louisville win helps UK’s strength of schedule and RPI (even if it’s just by a little).

Kansas (24-1) retained the No. 1 spot after a pair of victories over Texas and Iowa State.

Villanova (22-2), Purdue (21-3), and Syracuse (24-2) round out the top five.

Duke (21-4) moved up two spots to No. 6 after winning at rival North Carolina on Wednesday and demolishing Maryland on Saturday.

Kansas State (20-4) also moved up two spots. The Wildcats are No. 7 this week after defeating Iowa State and Colorado and multiple losses to teams previously ranked in front of them.

West Virginia (19-5) fell to No. 8 and Georgetown (18-6) dropped to No. 10 this week. Ohio State is ranked No. 9 The Mountaineers lost both games last week, and Georgetown was upset by Rutgers on Sunday.

Tennessee and Vanderbilt join SEC as the only other SEC teams in the AP top 25. Tennessee (18-6, 6-4 SEC) fell to No. 20 after a pair of road losses to Vanderbilt and UK. The Commodores moved up from No. 22 to No. 17 with wins over Tennessee and Louisiana State.

The Cats are still No. 2 in the latest ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll.