Projecting Kentucky Wildcats' Ranking in Updated College Basketball Polls

The No. 18 Kentucky Wildcats improved to 18-5 overall after Saturday's 69-59 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs, and they are slowly beginning to climb up the college basketball rankings. 

Now having won its past three games, two of which were on the road, UK figures to rise a few spots when the updated college basketball AP Top 25 Poll comes out Monday.

Here is a recap of the teams who lost this past week and are currently ranked ahead of Kentucky: 

• The No. 15 Texas Longhorns were defeated handily by the unranked Kansas State Wildcats, 74-57.
• The No. 10 Michigan Wolverines were dismantled by the No. 17 Iowa Hawkeyes, 85-67.
• Those same Hawkeyes lost at home to the unranked Ohio State Buckeyes, 76-69, on Tuesday night. 
• The No. 7 Cincinnati Bearcats were defeated handily by the unranked SMU Mustangs, 76-55.
• The No. 9 Michigan State Spartans lost to the unranked Wisconsin Badgers, 60-58.

That is five teams ranked ahead of UK who lost this week, and that means the Cats will rise somewhere between three to six spots in the updated rankings.

It is also worth pointing out the No. 19 Oklahoma State Cowboys, ranked one spot behind UK, lost to the No. 16 Iowa State Cyclones on Tuesday and were defeated by the unranked Texas Tech Red Raiders on Saturday. 

There is still is a lot of basketball left to be played this year, but it is encouraging to see this Kentucky team go from being potentially unranked after its loss to the LSU Tigers on Jan. 28 to now likely being in the top 15 in the latest polls with a shot to rise futher with a game against the No. 3 Florida Gators this coming Saturday. 

Jason Marcum is a student in the B/R advanced sports media program. You can find more of his work at Stripe Hype and follow him on Twitter @UK_Fans.