AP Top 25 College Basketball Poll 2014 Week 7: Kentucky's Unanimous Reign Continues After Thrashing UCLA
ByAs long as Kentucky (1) keeps on winning, and by double digits no less, they will stay on top as the unanimous choice for the Associated Press college basketball poll.
Kentucky has knocked off North Carolina (20), Texas (9) and Kansas (10) this season, but UCLA arguably brought the most potent offense the Wildcats have seen this season. The nation's best defense held UCLA to 44 points while allowing just seven in the first half.
Kentucky took off with a 24-0 run to start the game, setting the tone for the first half. They have now won all 12 of their games by double-digit margins.
"If they continue to play at that level defensively, I'm a firm believer they got a chance to run this thing out," UCLA coach Steve Alford told reporters after the game, according to ESPN.
Duke (2), Arizona (3), Louisville (4) and Virginia (5) also remained unbeaten to round out the top five. After spending the week inactive, Wisconsin (6) fell one place while Virginia moved up one after beating Cleveland State 70-54 and Harvard 76-27.
Ohio State (21) fell the furthest in week seven of the AP rankings, dropping nine places after losing to North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday.
On their way off the rankings was Miami (Fla.), San Diego State, Butler and Michigan State and were replaced by Baylor (22), Northern Iowa (23), Colorado State (24) and TCU (25).
Kentucky is playing in the game of the week, as they take on the fourth ranked opponent of their schedule in Louisville next Saturday. Kentucky has been extremely successful with big, physical defenders and unselfish play on offense.
"People can watch these guys in 20 minutes and know how really good they are," Kentucky coach John Calipari told reporters after beating UCLA, ESPN reported. "They don't need 40 minutes, and these kids are great. We're a really good team with a bunch of guys, 10 guys, that all could score double figures."