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College basketball power rankings: Kentucky takes a tumble

By Mike Phillips

Nov 20, 2022; Spokane, Washington, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Cason Wallace (22) shoots the ball against Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Drew Timme (2) in the second half at Spokane Arena. Gonzaga won 88-72. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 20, 2022; Spokane, Washington, USA; Kentucky Wildcats guard Cason Wallace (22) shoots the ball against Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Drew Timme (2) in the second half at Spokane Arena. Gonzaga won 88-72. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports /
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Gonzaga basketball, Kentucky basketball
Gonzaga basketball, Kentucky basketball (Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports) /

Feast Week begins with a big stumble in the power rankings from Kentucky, which lost a pair of games to Gonzaga and Michigan State.

College basketball fans love big teams that schedule tough non-conference games since they not only provide entertaining contests in November but also provide a good litmus test for elite squads. John Calipari did strong work with Kentucky, scheduling a pair of elite matchups against Michigan State and Gonzaga last week, but his team lost both games.

How far will those defeats drop the Wildcats in this week’s power rankings? We’ll get to the Top 10 below, but first, we’ll take a look at the teams that just missed the cut in the Honorable Mentions section.

Week 3 College Basketball Rankings – The Honorable Mentions

Note: All rankings referenced below come from the Week 2 AP Top 25 Poll. Teams participating in MTEs will only have their first scheduled game listed in the this week section.

Kentucky, UCLA, Michigan State, Indiana, Arizona

The Wildcats, who were No. 4 in last week’s power rankings, are out of the Top 10 entirely after a pair of discouraging defeats that saw Calipari get outcoached by Tom Izzo and Mark Few.

The comments made by some of Kentucky’s players, notably Oscar Tshiebwe’s thoughts that the team wasn’t running the plays Calipari drew up, hint at a disconnect worth monitoring with a tough schedule ahead.

UCLA is also out of the Top 10 after losing a pair of games in Las Vegas to Illinois and Baylor, which is not great but the Baylor game was at least close. The big riser here is Michigan State, which upset Kentucky and followed it up with a win over Villanova to put themselves on the fringe of Top 10 status.