Tuesday, December 14, 1999
UK tumbles out of Top 25 for first time since 1990
BY NEIL SCHMIDT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Under the category of All Good Things Come to an End, add Kentucky's decade of basketball brilliance.
UK's 1990s rankings reign ended Monday after more than nine years, the fifth-longest run in college basketball history. The Wildcats' absence from the Associated Press poll was a symbolic surrender, perhaps only a momentary one, but certainly cause for concern.
“We just haven't played good enough to be in there,” UK coach Tubby Smith told the AP. “(But) I'd much rather be ranked in the Top 25 or Top 10 at the end of the year than at the beginning of the year.”
Beginning on Dec. 4, 1990, the Wildcats appeared in 164 consec utive Top 25 polls. UK (4-4), which began this season at No.14, was No.23 last week. It was bounced after losing four of its past five games.
How good have the '90s been? UK went to four Final Fours, winning twice. It went five years without losing back-to-back games. It was ranked in the Top 10 just as long.
“They're too strong defensive ly, too deep, too well-coached to stay down for long,” ESPN analyst Dick Vitale said. “But they've had a difficult time shooting, and they lack a big-time star like they've had in the past.”
The schedule UK has played is the sixth-toughest in college RPI.com's ratings and the ninth-toughest in Jeff Sagarin's. The four teams which have beaten UK are a collective 29-4 and are rated Nos. 1 (Arizona), 9 (Indiana), 13 (Dayton) and 15 (Maryland) by Sagarin.
“You have to reload again,” CBS analyst Billy Packer said. “You couple that with the schedule they've played; that's a schedule for a mature team. This isn't a mature team.”
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