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Kentucky up to # 7 in coaches poll

If we were in the Big Ten or Big East this season, we'd go 15-3 or 16-2.

In the SEC, we'll likely win 10 or 11 games.

All that is to say, don't worry when our ranking inevitably drops. We will be facing Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four caliber teams almost every week.

If you're still a top 25 team when all the dust clears from that super volcanic ash heap called the SEC regular season schedule, you thank God in heaven for it.
 
If we were in the Big Ten or Big East this season, we'd go 15-3 or 16-2.

In the SEC, we'll likely win 10 or 11 games.

All that is to say, don't worry when our ranking inevitably drops. We will be facing Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four caliber teams almost every week.

If you're still a top 25 team when all the dust clears from that super volcanic ash heap called the SEC regular season schedule, you thank God in heaven for it.
If we go 10-8 in this SEC, we probably get a 3 seed. We'd have a similar or stronger resume as last year's Baylor team who was 10-9 against quad 1 opponents, 4-1 quad 2. We have already banked 3 GREAT wins that will help boost us. If we can go 12-6 we probably get a 2 seed.
 
If we were in the Big Ten or Big East this season, we'd go 15-3 or 16-2.

In the SEC, we'll likely win 10 or 11 games.

All that is to say, don't worry when our ranking inevitably drops. We will be facing Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four caliber teams almost every week.

If you're still a top 25 team when all the dust clears from that super volcanic ash heap called the SEC regular season schedule, you thank God in heaven for it.
We'll have to see if the AP voters give us the same treatment as they have the ACC and Big East in the past when they were supposedly "so strong". They'd lose once a week and none would move in the polls - justification was that the league was so strong that of course they're going to beat each other up.

I have a hunch some voters (ACC/BE homers) will be chomping at the bit to drop any SEC team that loses.
 
Here is a list of the voters:

The USA TODAY Sports Board of Coaches is made up of 31 head coaches at Division I institutions. All are members of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The board for the 2024-25 season: Tobin Anderson, Iona; Adrian Autry, Syracuse; John Becker, Vermont; Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's; Jeff Boals, Ohio; Alvin Brooks, Lamar; Scott Drew, Baylor; Matt Driscoll, North Florida; Dan Earl, Chattanooga; Jonas Hayes, Georgia State; Alan Huss, High Point; Donte’ Jackson, Grambling; Ben Jacobson, Northern Iowa; James Jones, Yale; Greg Kampe, Oakland; Brad Korn, Southeast Missouri State; Greg McDermott, Creighton; Nick McDevitt, Middle Tennessee; Mike McGarvey, Lafayette; Niko Medved, Colorado State; Dan Monson, Eastern Washington; Chris Mooney, Richmond; Nate Oats, Alabama; Eric Olen, UC San Diego; Matt Painter, Purdue; Michael Schwartz, East Carolina; Patrick Sellers, Central Connecticut State; Zach Spiker, Drexel; Brett Tanner, Abilene Christian; Stan Waterman, Delaware State; Jeff Wulbrun, Denver.
 
Looks like someone needs their voting right stripped. Look at the low on all the SEC teams.
Just FYI that's not the low for a vote, that's the lowest ranking that team has held this season so far.

Helpful Info (from the USA Today poll website):

*The highest and lowest ranking each team has held during the designated season. Any team that starts the season unranked and/or falls out of the top 25 during the season will reflect a "NR" (not ranked) designation as its lowest rank.
 
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EDIT - I misread the poll I linked. Hi/Lo is the highest they've been and lowest they've been. Maybe that's what you're seeing also?

"Kentucky was ranked as high as No. 4 and as low as No. 23 by voters, bringing in 560 total points."

That reads like 1 voter had us at 23, and we rounded out at 560 points.
 
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Duke's ranking is a joke. 2-2 vs. ranked teams and only really good win was Auburn at Cameron. Looking ahead, they only have 1 more ranked team on the schedule, Illinois! The ACC is so weak this year, Duke is almost assured a number 1 seed as a result with this kind of ranking going in.

In the SEC, I see Duke as a .500 team.
 
"Kentucky was ranked as high as No. 4 and as low as No. 23 by voters, bringing in 560 total points."

That reads like 1 voter had us at 23, and we rounded out at 560 points.
I am surprise that vandy is not higher ranked they have a really good team
 
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"Kentucky was ranked as high as No. 4 and as low as No. 23 by voters, bringing in 560 total points."

That reads like 1 voter had us at 23, and we rounded out at 560 points.
Yeah but the poll is managed by USA Today and they have the disclaimer I mentioned above. I don't think Pilgrim is being clear that 4 and 23 and 560 points are actually NOT the high/low votes for this week.

USA Today Scroll To Bottom

Helpful Info​

*The highest and lowest ranking each team has held during the designated season. Any team that starts the season unranked and/or falls out of the top 25 during the season will reflect a "NR" (not ranked) designation as its lowest rank.
 
Last edited:
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Yeah but the poll is managed by USA Today and they have the disclaimer I mentioned above. I don't think Pilgrim is being clear that 4 and 23 and 560 points.

USA Today Scroll To Bottom

Helpful Info​

*The highest and lowest ranking each team has held during the designated season. Any team that starts the season unranked and/or falls out of the top 25 during the season will reflect a "NR" (not ranked) designation as its lowest rank.
They should toss out the highest and the lowest vote for each team, considering those as outliers.
 
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Duke's ranking is a joke. 2-2 vs. ranked teams and only really good win was Auburn at Cameron. Looking ahead, they only have 1 more ranked team on the schedule, Illinois! The ACC is so weak this year, Duke is almost assured a number 1 seed as a result with this kind of ranking going in.

In the SEC, I see Duke as a .500 team.
I posted a few days ago the SEC went (I think) 34-4 vs the entire ACC, with every ACC team losing to at least 1 SEC team, and every SEC team beating at least 1 ACC team. Thus the average SEC team would go approximately 16-2 in the ACC this year, so yeah, unless Duke goes 18-0 in ACC then they are not much better than an average SEC team.
 
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They should toss out the highest and the lowest vote for each team, considering those as outliers.
I mistyped on my response (now edited).

The "hi/lo" isn't the highest vote and lowest vote this week. So #23 isn't a vote a coach actually made, it's the lowest in the polls we've been since polling started this year. The "4" is the highest we've been. You can see this clearly by looking at other teams and going back to previous polls. And USA Today says this at the bottom of the poll page, pretty straight forward.

Unlike the AP voters, they don't publicize how the coaches voted - they just tally up the vote points based on what ranking each coach thinks the team earned this week. The point totals are what are ranked. But we can't see how they voted.

The AP poll you can find a list of exactly how each voter voted for each team. You'll see all sorts of media and school/conference bias in those results!
 
If we were in the Big Ten or Big East this season, we'd go 15-3 or 16-2.

In the SEC, we'll likely win 10 or 11 games.

All that is to say, don't worry when our ranking inevitably drops. We will be facing Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four caliber teams almost every week.

If you're still a top 25 team when all the dust clears from that super volcanic ash heap called the SEC regular season schedule, you thank God in heaven for it.
It's so important to hold home court and steal a road game when you have the chance.
 
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Kentucky can have a great season and still finish 11-7 in the SEC. That's how strong it is from top to bottom. I look for us to finish more like 12-6 or maybe even 13-5.
 
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If we go 10-8 in this SEC, we probably get a 3 seed. We'd have a similar or stronger resume as last year's Baylor team who was 10-9 against quad 1 opponents, 4-1 quad 2. We have already banked 3 GREAT wins that will help boost us. If we can go 12-6 we probably get a 2 seed.
Is UL considered a decent win now? They see to be getting pretty OK, beat UNC... yes I can't stand them, but looking at the ACC, they might end up with a pretty good record.
 
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If we were in the Big Ten or Big East this season, we'd go 15-3 or 16-2.

In the SEC, we'll likely win 10 or 11 games.

All that is to say, don't worry when our ranking inevitably drops. We will be facing Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four caliber teams almost every week.

If you're still a top 25 team when all the dust clears from that super volcanic ash heap called the SEC regular season schedule, you thank God in heaven for it.
Another thing is we shouldn’t drop much with losses because they will mostly be to top 25 teams and the wins will vault you back up.
 
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Duke's ranking is a joke. 2-2 vs. ranked teams and only really good win was Auburn at Cameron. Looking ahead, they only have 1 more ranked team on the schedule, Illinois! The ACC is so weak this year, Duke is almost assured a number 1 seed as a result with this kind of ranking going in.

In the SEC, I see Duke as a .500 team.
They would be as good as anyone but they won’t finish as a 1 seed.
 
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