Two double-digit losses to unranked foes last week did major damage to Kentucky's poll standing. For the first time since John Calipari came to UK, the Wildcats are out of the AP Top 25. That snaps a run of 61 straight polls in which the Wildcats were ranked.
Kentucky remains in the Coach's poll at #19, a rather stunning disparity that strongly suggests that many in the media were anxious to see the Wildcats drop out of the poll. It's pretty rare you see teams inside the top 20 in the Coaches' poll and completely out of the AP poll. In fact, I'm struggling to remember a case where a team was ranked that high in the Coaches' poll and not in AP. I've seen the reverse, but this is pretty rare.
The 61-striaght poll streak goes down the river along with UK's 55-game winning streak in Rupp Arena, and although it's never pleasant to see such nice streaks go by the boards, it's pretty much inevitable. Time to start new ones, I say.
At the end of the day, I think very few of us will stand up and say "We wuz robbed!" on the poll, not just because polls don't mean all that much this time of year, but because, quite honestly, Top 25 teams don't lose by 14 and 9 points in back-to-back games against unranked foes.
It's also likely the media doesn't think it has seen the last of the Wildcats' poor play, which is possible but not particularly likely. This next stretch of games, besides being against lower-ranked opponents until the 'Cats travel to Louisville on the 29th, have lots of days in-between, providing a heretofore unavailable opportunity for Coach Cal to live up to the "Coach Your Team" reminder emblazoned above his office door.
You can find both polls here.