Kentucky Remains No. 1, Texas Looks Strong Heading to Rupp Arena
The latest AP top 25 poll for college basketball has been released and the Kentucky Wildcats are firmly holding onto the No. 1 spot. Kentucky thus far is 7-0.
The young and highly talented Wildcats have yet to lose. Kentucky is defeating its opponents by large margins on a regular basis.
The Wildcats are outscoring their opponents by 36.8 points per game, which is the best in the NCAA. Kentucky took 62 of the 65 first place votes in this week’s poll that was released on Monday.
The other three first place votes went to Wisconsin.
The complete top 10 in order from top to bottom is Kentucky, Wisconsin, Arizona, Duke, Louisville, Texas, Virginia, Wichita State, Gonzaga and Villanova.
Looking strong are the Texas Longhorns who are 6-0. The Longhorns defeated UConn on Sunday night and meet Kentucky Friday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
Kentucky has faced the favorite in the Big 12 this season Kansas and beat the perennial champions of that league 72-40 to show their dominance.
Arizona and Duke stayed at No. 3 and No. 4.
North Carolina at 5-1Â slipped out of the top 10 in the poll after losing early in the week last week to Butler 74-66.
Kentucky’s dominance at the top will be tested on Friday by Texas. No team to date has dominated or been as impressive as the Kentucky Wildcats have been to start the season.
However, other than Louisville, Duke and possibly Wisconsin, the Longhorns look to be the next best thing.
Texas has thrived even though their star player Isaiah Taylor suffered a wrist injury on November 20 when the Longhorns beat Iowa.
The No. 6 Longhorns have been successful thanks to size, defense and the play of Jonathan Holmes.
Iowa and Cal might not have been the most difficult opponents, however the ease in which Texas defeated the two was impressive.
Now after downing UConn on Sunday night 55-54 without Taylor in the lineup, the Longhorns have one of the best nonconference victories on the road of any top 10 team this season.
The Longhorns are tall, talented with a number of different strengths. However, their trip on Friday to Lexington will be a daunting task.
Playing Kentucky as Rupp Arena is tough in itself, but facing the Wildcats this season at Rupp Arena could be next to impossible.
However, the Longhorns could walk into Kentucky and waltz out with a win over the highly talented Wildcats.
If Texas wants to go to the next level this season, the Longhorns will have to continue winning on the road as they did on Sunday in Storrs.
