Kentucky is unanimous No. 1 choice

ESPN logo
Monday, December 8, 2014

The Kentucky Wildcats are still No. 1, and this time on top of every ballot.

The Wildcats (9-0) became a unanimous No. 1 team in the new Associated Press poll Monday, getting the first-place votes on all 64 ballots cast.

Syracusespent two weeks as a unanimous No. 1 last season.

Wisconsinhad been getting some first-place votes before its 80-70 loss last week to Duke. The Badgers slipped from second to fifth in the new rankings.

Duke (8-0) replaced Wisconsin at No. 2, jumping ahead of No. 3 Arizona(8-0), which stayed undefeated with a 66-63 overtime victory Saturday against No. 9 Gonzaga.

Louisville was up one spot to fourth. Virginia, Villanova, Texas, Gonzaga and Kansasrounded out the top 10. The Jayhawks (6-1), who visit Georgetown on Wednesday, rallied to beat Florida to climb back into the top 10.

"I think it showed that our guys were pretty resilient, pretty tough," Kansas coach Bill Self said Monday.

"We found out a lot of things. It's a long game. Defensive rebounding can keep you in the game even when the offense is laboring. I think we showed some toughness there, no question, in the second half."

Utah (6-1) made the biggest jump of the week, climbing 12 spots to No. 13 after ending then-No. 8 Wichita State's 35-game regular-season winning streak. The Shockers fell three spots to No. 11.

The Washington Huskies, off to their first 7-0 start since the 2006-07 season, upset then-No. 13 San Diego State on Sunday and went from unranked to No. 17 in this week's poll.

St. John's (6-1), which snapped Syracuse's 55-game home nonconference winning streak on Saturday, entered this week's poll at No. 24.

Michigan, however, dropped from No. 17 to outside the top 25 after falling 72-70 Saturday to the New Jersey Institute of Technology -- the only independent basketball program in Division I.

Joining the Wolverines on the ride out of the top 25 was in-state rival Michigan State (6-3), who lost to new No. 25 Notre Dame (8-1). The Spartans are unranked for the first time in 58 polls dating to December 2011.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related Video