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The latest round of college basketball top-25 polls have the Kentucky Wildcats back on the upswing.
After nearly falling out of the top 25 last week, UK is firmly back in this week following impressive wins over Arkansas and Vanderbilt. The Cats come in at No. 19 this week in the newest Coaches Top 25 Poll, the same spot they held last week. UK also climbed up to No. 20 in the new AP Poll, which had the Cats ranked at No. 23 last week.
UK will get a major test this week when they hit the road to face a Kansas Jayhawks team that checks in at No. 3 in the Coaches Poll and No. 4 in the AP Poll. This, despite losing in embarrassing fashion at Oklahoma State last week. As bad as the loss was, KU is still one of the nation's best teams when they're hitting on all cylinders.
As for the top spot, the North Carolina Tar Heels are now back on top in the Coaches Poll. after opening the season there. Losses by Oklahoma, Villanova and Kansas last week allowed the Heels to regain the top spot with not much debate...
However, the AP Poll has the Sooners at the top spot, despite a close loss at No. 16/14 Iowa State last week. Oklahoma's only other loss is at Kansas, so there's a good case to be made they they're still the No. 1 team.
Here is the fully-updated Coaches Top 25 Poll:
TOP 25 TEAMS, WEEK 12
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | 1ST PLACE VOTES | PREV | CHANGE | HI/LOW |
| 1 | North Carolina | 18-2 | 791 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 1/11 |
| 2 | Oklahoma | 16-2 | 766 | 9 | 1 | -1 | 1/8 |
| 3 | Kansas | 16-3 | 680 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1/7 |
| 4 | Iowa | 16-3 | 677 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 4/NR |
| 5 | Texas A&M | 17-2 | 650 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 5/NR |
| 6 | Villanova | 17-3 | 591 | 0 | 4 | -2 | 4/17 |
| 7 | Maryland | 17-3 | 581 | 0 | 5 | -2 | 2/9 |
| 8 | Xavier | 17-2 | 580 | 0 | 6 | -2 | 6/NR |
| 9 | West Virginia | 16-3 | 503 | 0 | 7 | -2 | 7/23 |
| 10 | Providence | 17-3 | 452 | 0 | 17 | 7 | 9/NR |
| 11 | Michigan St | 17-4 | 445 | 0 | 10 | -1 | 1/13 |
| 12 | Virginia | 15-4 | 430 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 4/13 |
| 13 | Miami-Florida | 15-3 | 412 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 9/NR |
| 14 | Louisville | 16-3 | 384 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 14/NR |
| 15 | Arizona | 16-4 | 341 | 0 | 11 | -4 | 6/16 |
| 16 | Iowa St. | 15-4 | 312 | 0 | 21 | 5 | 2/21 |
| 17 | Indiana | 17-3 | 290 | 0 | 23 | 6 | 14/NR |
| 18 | Baylor | 15-4 | 281 | 0 | 15 | -3 | 14/25 |
| 19 | Kentucky | 15-4 | 242 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 1/19 |
| 20 | Duke | 15-5 | 183 | 0 | 12 | -8 | 3/20 |
| 21 | Purdue | 17-4 | 150 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 8/24 |
| 22 | South Carolina | 17-2 | 137 | 0 | 18 | -4 | 15/NR |
| 23 | Pittsburgh | 16-3 | 118 | 0 | 20 | -3 | 17/NR |
| 24 | Oregon | 16-4 | 90 | 0 | 29 | 5 | 16/NR |
| 25 | Wichita St. | 14-5 | 60 | 0 | 30 | 5 | 11/NR |
| 1 |  |
Oklahoma (36)
Big 12
Record: 16-2
|
PV Rank
1Points
1,592 |
| 2 |  |
North Carolina (29)
ACC
Record: 18-2
|
2
1,586
|
| 3 |  |
Iowa
Big Ten
Record: 16-3
|
9
1,473
|
| 4 |  |
Kansas
Big 12
Record: 16-3
|
3
1,369
|
| 5 |  |
Texas A&M
SEC
Record: 17-2
|
10
1,332
|
| 6 |  |
Villanova
Big East
Record: 17-3
|
4
1,261
|
| 7 |  |
Xavier
Big East
Record: 17-2
|
5
1,186
|
| 8 |  |
Maryland
Big Ten
Record: 17-3
|
7
1,111
|
| 9 |  |
West Virginia
Big 12
Record: 16-3
|
6
1,105
|
| 10 |  |
Providence
Big East
Record: 17-3
|
16
1,005
|
| 11 |  |
Virginia
ACC
Record: 15-4
|
13
903
|
| 12 |  |
Michigan State
Big Ten
Record: 17-4
|
11
869
|
| 13 |  |
SMU
American Athletic Conference (AAC)
Record: 18-1
|
8
838
|
| 14 |  |
Iowa State
Big 12
Record: 15-4
|
19
792
|
| 15 |  |
Miami (FL)
ACC
Record: 15-3
|
15
753
|
| 16 |  |
Louisville
ACC
Record: 16-3
|
17
719
|
| 17 |  |
Baylor
Big 12
Record: 15-4
|
13
594
|
| 18 |  |
Arizona
Pac-12
Record: 16-4
|
12
502
|
| 19 |  |
Indiana
Big Ten
Record: 17-3
|
25
466
|
| 20 |  |
Kentucky
SEC
Record: 15-4
|
23
403
|
| 21 |  |
Purdue
Big Ten
Record: 17-4
|
22
328
|
| 22 |  |
Wichita State
Missouri Valley
Record: 14-5
|
28
151
|
| 23 |  |
Oregon
Pac-12
Record: 16-4
|
36
149
|
| 24 |  |
Duke
ACC
Record: 15-5
|
20
145
|
| 25 |  |
Notre Dame
ACC
Record: 14-5
|
30
136
|
Here's the latest offering from the CBS Sports Top 25 (and one), which thankfully is just for fun and doesn't really matter, especially since UK isn't even in their top 25.
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