Kentucky just handled business against a ranked opponent, did it by double digits, and still woke up Monday on the outside looking in.
That’s the frustrating part. The encouraging part is the AP poll finally looks like it’s starting to notice.
Kentucky was the top team among “others receiving votes” in today’s AP Top 25, pulling 78 points. That’s not “pretty close,” that’s “you’re basically standing on the porch” close, especially with No. 25 Iowa sitting at 79 points.
And because the next AP poll isn’t coming until Jan. 5, this is the ranking Kentucky is going to stare at through the holiday stretch.
Kentucky basketball is knocking on the Top 25 door
If you want the simplest case for why Kentucky feels like it should’ve been ranked, it starts with Saturday’s result.
The Wildcats beat No. 22 St. John’s 78-66 in Atlanta, holding the Red Storm to a rough second half and turning the game into a grind where Kentucky looked comfortable being the more physical team. That’s a 12-point win over a team that walked onto the floor with a number next to its name. In December, that usually buys you some poll movement.
Instead, Kentucky got the classic poll-side shrug: “Nice win. Call us next week.”
Only there is no next week. Not in AP terms.
The good news is that the “call us” part is happening. Kentucky jumped from 19 points last week to 78 this week. That’s not a tiny nudge, that’s a real shove toward the line.
If you’re a Kentucky fan, you can be annoyed and optimistic at the same time. You have to understand the losses to Gonzaga, Michigan State by that amount will weigh heavy when considering votes. But the AP is much more reactionary, so a good week can help you bounce back.
Mark Pope’s team is giving voters a reason to reconsider
This is the part that matters more than the number beside the logo.
Kentucky’s win over St. John’s didn’t feel like a lucky heater night. It felt like a team starting to understand what it is, especially when shots aren’t falling in rhythm. Otega Oweh led the way with 20 points in the win, and the larger story was Kentucky’s ability to clamp down defensively after halftime and play with an edge that they were missing during the early season.
That’s the Mark Pope selling point when things are right: pace, spacing, pressure, and a roster that doesn’t fold the first time a game turns into a street fight. A poll is never going to capture that cleanly, but voters usually respond when a team starts stacking “grown-up wins” instead of just beating who it’s supposed to beat.
Kentucky is also in a weird poll neighborhood right now. Look at the back end of the Top 25: Florida is 22, Georgia is 23, USC is 24, Iowa is 25. Kentucky isn’t trying to jump Arizona or Michigan. It’s trying to elbow its way into that muddy tier where a good week matters and one ugly loss can toss you into the “others receiving votes” pit for a month.
Right now, Kentucky is winning the pit.
Why Kentucky basketball is still unranked despite the St. John’s win
If you’re trying to make sense of the “how,” start here: AP voters don’t just grade your best win. They’re juggling résumés, records, brand bias, and that quiet human tendency to avoid overreacting right before Christmas.
Also, St. John’s fell out of the Top 25 this week. That matters. Had they been in the top 15, the vote tally suggest the Cats very well could be ranked.
Kentucky’s vote surge suggests a lot of people did watch the game, did respect it, and did move the Wildcats up their ballots. They just didn’t move them up quite enough to cross the official line.
The irony is that Kentucky is sitting closer to being ranked than several teams actually in the poll are to moving up. When you’re 78 points unranked, you’re not “unranked” in the usual sense. You’re “unranked” in the technical sense, like stepping out of bounds by half an inch.
What happens next for Kentucky basketball
Kentucky doesn’t need to win an argument. It needs to win games that make the argument irrelevant.
That’s the cleanest way to put it: keep winning, and the number shows up. Lose one you shouldn’t, and you’re right back to fighting Seton Hall for attention in the “others receiving votes” section.
But the trajectory matters, and the trend line is real. Kentucky went from “barely mentioned” to “first team out” in one week. That’s a bigger deal than the absence of a 25 next to the name, especially with the calendar about to slow down and the next poll not coming until Jan. 5.
So yeah, it’s fair to feel like Kentucky should’ve snuck back in before Christmas. A 12-point win over a ranked opponent usually gets you there.
But if Kentucky keeps playing the way it played in Atlanta: tough, connected, and perfectly fine making the game uncomfortable, the Top 25 won’t be a “maybe” for long. It’ll be the boring part of the story.
Kentucky women's basketball continues climb up the rankings
Over to the ladies, the 12-1 Lady Cats dominated Wright State 96-53 in their annual Holiday classic game. They also moved up one spot to number 12 in the AP poll continuing their climb from 24th when they started the year.