College Basketball Power 10: Seven of Top 10 Went Down Last Week
By Jeremy Karll
10. Kentucky (17-4)
Kentucky could not afford a loss in a weak SEC to get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They lost to Tennessee 82-80 last week.
The Wildcats could have bounced back at home against Kansas to give them a fighting chance if teams in front of them lost a couple of more games. Kansas came into Rupp Arena and dominated the second half, winning 79-73.
As exciting as Kentucky is, as strong as Kentucky’s brand is, as many good NBA prospects as Kentucky has, it’s time to admit that this Kentucky team is a borderline top 10 team and nothing more.
They haven’t dominated the SEC. Along with losing to Tennessee, Kentucky also only beat Mississippi by seven and Vanderbilt by six. Those teams are a combined 23-18 and 7-9 in conference play.
Now before the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky’s only meaningful opponent is 24th ranked Florida, twice. While it comes at the cost of upsets and a couple of more losses, other schools benefit from playing in tougher conferences because they gain valuable late game experience and how to win against great competition in hostile environments.
Kentucky doesn’t have that luxury and it showed against Kansas, even though they were at home.
The Wildcats host Georgia and travel to Florida this week. Another loss would be detrimental to them.