Kentucky rises in new college basketball rankings

The Kentucky Wildcats are moving on up in the latest college basketball rankings.

The new AP Top 25 Poll has Kentucky checking at No. 9, a one-spot rise from last week.

Duke, the only team to beat Kentucky thus far, is now No. 1 following a neutral-court win over then-No. 1 Gonzaga.

After Duke, the rest of the top five features Purdue, Gonzaga, Baylor and UCLA.

For the SEC, Arkansas is now at No. 10, while Alabama dropped to 16 after losing to Iona last week. Tennessee (13), Florida (14) and Auburn (21) round out the remaining SEC teams.

Two future Kentucky opponents — LSU and Ohio State — earned the third and fourth-most votes outside the top 25, respectively.

College Basketball AP Top 25 Poll

1. Duke (51 first-place votes)

2. Purdue (9)

3. Gonzaga (1)

4. Baylor

5. UCLA

6. Villanova

7. Texas

8. Kansas

9. Kentucky

10. Arkansas

11. Arizona

12. BYU

13. Tennessee

14. Florida

15. Houston

16. Alabama

17. UConn

18. Memphis

19. Iowa State

20. USC

21. Auburn

22. Michigan State

23. Wisconsin

24. Michigan

25. Seton Hall

Others receiving votes: Illinois 111, St. Bonaventure 106, LSU 93, Ohio State 75, Indiana 63, Colorado State 59, Xavier 46, Texas Tech 34, Marquette 23, North Carolina 9, Iowa 9, San Francisco 7, Loyola Chicago 3, Virginia Tech 3, Louisville 2, Wake Forest 2, Ohio 1, Iona 1.

As for other rankings, Kentucky checked in at No. 9 in the latest CBS Sports Top 25 And 1.

Kentucky is back in action tonight vs. Central Michigan at 7 pm ET.