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Sports

Kentucky remains unanimous choice in men's poll

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - Kentucky is still the undisputed top-ranked team in men's college basketball, while a few changes toward the bottom included Michigan State's complete omission after a stunning overtime loss to Texas Southern on Saturday.

The Spartans were ranked 25th last week, but didn't even receive a vote this week after a 71-64 setback to a Texas Southern team that had just a 1-8 record entering the Breslin Center.

As for Kentucky, the nation's No. 1 team kept rolling along Saturday, scoring the first 24 points in an 83-44 annihilation of UCLA in Chicago. The Wildcats have been the top-ranked team all season and are a unanimous selection for the third straight week, receiving all 65 first-place votes and a total of 1,625 points from a nationwide media panel.

Duke, Arizona and Louisville kept their places from 2-4, while Virginia swapped places with Wisconsin and is now fifth after Sunday's thorough 76-27 pounding of a Harvard team that was ranked at the start of the season.

Villanova, which escaped with an overtime victory over Syracuse on Saturday to remain unbeaten, is still seventh and again followed by Gonzaga, Texas and Kansas.

The second 10 consists of Wichita State, Iowa State, Washington, Utah, Maryland, Notre Dame, St. John's, West Virginia, Oklahoma and North Carolina. Notre Dame moved up five spots from 21st for the biggest jump within the poll, while Oklahoma tumbled four spots from 15th after a narrow loss to Washington on Saturday.

Ohio State had the biggest drop within the poll, falling nine spots from 12th to 21st after its loss to North Carolina on Saturday in Chicago. Baylor, Northern Iowa, Colorado State and TCU are the last four teams ranked and all are newcomers this week.

In addition to Michigan State, Miami-Florida, San Diego State and Butler all dropped out of the poll after losses last week. Miami-Florida was 18th and suffered a 72-44 home loss to Eastern Kentucky, while San Diego State was 19th fell at Cincinnati. Butler was 23rd and lost to Indiana on Saturday.

The lone ranked matchup for Christmas week is the titanic Bluegrass State showdown between Kentucky and Louisville on Saturday in the Derby City, which could be the Wildcats' toughest remaining challenge until the NCAA Tournament.