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Projected college basketball rankings after Kentucky upset Tennessee

By Alicia de Artola

Oscar Tshiebwe #34 of the Kentucky Wildcats. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
Oscar Tshiebwe #34 of the Kentucky Wildcats. (Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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The college basketball rankings are sure to get shaken up this week with the selection committee’s initial Top 16 and Kentucky’s upset of Tennessee.

March Madness is quickly approaching which means every game has heightened meaning for teams vying for desirable seeds or an NCAA Tournament berth at all.

Kentucky is one of those teams in need of a resumé boost before the NCAA Selection Committee makes its final decision on the tournament field. They got a huge one on Saturday with a 66-54 victory over the No. 10 Tennessee Volunteers.

The Vols were riding high after their win over No. 1 Alabama but they stumbled for the fourth time in their last six games. All four of their recent losses have come to unranked teams.

Here’s a look at how the rankings may change in light of that result and the others around college basketball this week.

Projected college basketball rankings after Kentucky upset Tennessee

  1. Alabama
  2. Houston
  3. Kansas
  4. Purdue
  5. UCLA
  6. Texas
  7. Arizona
  8. Virginia
  9. Baylor
  10. Marquette
  11. Iowa State
  12. Tennessee
  13. Kansas State
  14. Gonzaga
  15. Indiana

Alabama, boosted by holding the No. 1 seed in the selection committee’s preliminary rankings, rebounded from the loss to Tennesse with an emphatic, 108-59 victory over Georgia on Saturday while Houston stayed on track against SMU.

Purdue has lost three of their last four games, opening the door for Kansas to jump ahead of them after their impressive comeback win over Baylor.

Texas won their rivalry game against Oklahoma by a narrow margin. Their final four games all against ranked teams will either make or break their tournament-seeding hopes.

As for Tennessee, their absolutely massive wins over the likes of Alabama and Kansas are holding their resumé together but the losses to unranked teams are piling up and voters are going to have to start punishing them for that.

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