NCAA Basketball: North Carolina, Kentucky, Auburn rise in latest top 25 power rankings
By Joey Loose
9. Kentucky (23-8)
It’s been a strange season in Lexington, but it’s ending on the right foot once again. Not only is John Calipari a masterful recruiter, but he seems to have his Wildcats playing some of their best ball when March rolls around. Kentucky struggled at times against a strong SEC and does have that awful home loss to UNC Wilmington, but recent wins over Auburn and Alabama set them back on a good path that continued this week.
It hasn’t always been pretty, and it certainly wasn’t on Wednesday, but the Wildcats survived an early scare from Vanderbilt, establishing themselves in a 93-77 win over the Commodores. Antonio Reeves led the pack with 20 points and 6 rebounds in Kentucky’s final home game. Things were even better on Saturday, as Kentucky scored an impressive 85-81 road win at Tennessee, knocking off one of those teams that beat them at home earlier in the year. Reeves and Reed Sheppard both scored 27 points.
These Wildcats finish the regular season on a five-game winning streak that’s included two pretty impressive road wins. There was that stretch where Kentucky seemingly couldn’t win at home and this defense is still very questionable, but overall the product is much better out of the Wildcats. Kentucky isn’t going to sneak up on anyone in the weeks to come, but this team can absolutely win the SEC Tournament and do some damage in late March.