Tennessee rises, Louisville emerges in my top 25

Even Kentucky fans had to be impressed by Tennessee winning at Pittsburgh. I vaulted the Vols from No. 22 to No. 5 on this week’s ballot. Part of that is a makeup call for under-estimating Tennessee on earlier ballots.

Perhaps UK fans won’t agree, but I also put Louisville in the top 25 for the first time. I was waiting for the unbeaten Cards to beat a good team and that happened against UNLV on Saturday.

I also added Texas A&M, which beat a good Washington team.

As for Kentucky, the Cats stayed at No. 15 after beating Notre Dame and Indiana last week.

Michigan State took the biggest fall, going from No. 7 to No. 17 after losing to Syracuse by 14 and barely beating Oakland.

Here’s my top 25 this week:

1. Duke
2. Ohio State
3. Kansas State
4. Kansas
5. Tennessee
6. Connecticut
7. Syracuse
8. Pittsburgh
9. Villanova
10. San Diego State
11. Baylor
12. Illinois
13. Memphis
14. Georgetown
15. Kentucky
16. Missouri
17. Michigan State
18. Purdue
19. Louisville
20. Minnesota
21. Texas
22. Vanderbilt
23. Texas A&M
24. Notre Dame
25. BYU