AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll 2014 Week 6: Kentucky Stays On Top, Still Unanimously the Best
ByThe Kentucky Wildcats are still number one in the Associated Press' college basketball poll and they are still the unanimous choice.
Kentucky proved their depth by beating the UNC Tar Heels 84-70 just after losing junior forward Alex Poythress for the season with a torn ACL. Though UNC managed the highest point total against Kentucky all season, the Wildcats flexed their offensive muscles and put up about 10 points more than their average.
Kentucky still has to go forward without a physical, talented defender on the wing, which will be challenged next on Saturday against the high-powered UCLA offense.
In week six of the AP Top 25 rankings, Duke (2), Arizona (3), Louisville (4), Wisconsin (5), Virginia (6) and Villanova (7) finished an unchanged top seven with Gonzaga (8), Texas (9) and Kansas (10) rounding out the top 10.
UNC (24) fell three spots after their loss to Kentucky and are now playing to protect their place on the AP poll, playing UNC Greensboro and Ohio State (12) this week.
The biggest drop in the rankings was Butler (23), who fell eight spots after beating Kennesaw State 93-51 and losing to Tennessee 67-55.
The only team to fall off the poll was Northern Iowa, who lost their first game of the season to Virginia Commonwealth and have Iowa up next. Michigan State (25) took their place, re-entering the top 25 after one week off it.
Michigan State has had a rough going early on, especially in a season after losing multiple major players to the NBA. The Spartans have typically been perennial contenders, but thus far they have lost to Duke and Kansas, the only ranked team they have played, as well as Notre Dame.
Tom Izzo and co. will have to play better against ranked opponents to climb the AP poll in future weeks.