ESPN dropped Kentucky two spots to No. 7 in today’s updated College Basketball Power Rankings following Saturday’s loss at Arkansas.
Following a Saturday where the top 6 teams in the AP Top 25 all suffered losses, ESPN still has Gonzaga at No. 1 and Baylor up 9 spots to No. 2.
Arizona, Kansas and Duke round out the top 5.
Here’s an excerpt about Kentucky:
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7. Kentucky Wildcats (23-6)
Previous ranking: 5
This week: vs. Ole Miss (Tuesday), at Florida (Saturday)
Kentucky’s defense is starting to become something of a mild concern heading down the stretch. When the Wildcats looked like arguably the best team in college basketball, they went six games in a row without allowing an opponent to score more than 1.00 point per possession — and that included road games at Kansas and Alabama. Over that stretch, they had the No. 4 adjusted defensive efficiency, according to Bart Torvik’s metrics. Since then, they’ve allowed at least 1.02 points per possession in four straight games, including Arkansas’ 1.09 points per possession on Saturday. Their adjusted defensive efficiency over that span is No. 236 nationally. They badly need a fully healthy Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington to round back into form.
