Kentucky falls to 9th in the AP Poll

Kentucky paid for its loss to Evansville by dropping from 1st to 9th in the AP Poll.  (Ken Pomeroy has them at number 5.)

The last time UK was ranked number 9, they lost to Seton Hall in overtime on December 8, 2018.  That was a very painful game, and we will hope for better outcomes tonight.

Between December 2001 and January 2005, what I think of as the Chuck Hayes era, the Cats played 17 games when they were ranked at number 9 in the AP poll -- and they won every one of them.  That is actually a great summary of the Chuck Hayes era -- those teams were hard-working over-achievers that were always on the verge of breaking into the Final Four, even though they never actually did so.

Kentucky was ranked 9th in the AP poll when they won the 1958 Championship, which gives you an idea of what a big upset that was.

In my lifetime, Kentucky's finest moment as the number-9 team came on March 1, 1981, when the ninth-ranked Cats beat the second-ranked LSU Tigers 73 to 71 to prevent LSU from going 18-0 in the SEC.  That was truly a great moment in UK basketball.  In all my years as a Kentucky fan, I can think of no other game where the fans in Rupp Arena were so emotional.