Kentucky moves to top of basketball poll

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MCLEAN, Va., Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Kentucky moved into the top spot in the USA Today/ESPN coaches basketball poll Monday with pre-season No. 1 North Carolina dropping to fifth.

Kentucky (6-0) pulled in 22 of the 31 first-place votes with No. 2 Ohio State (6-0) getting eight such mentions and third-ranked Syracuse (6-0) taking the other. Duke (7-0) goes from sixth to fourth this week.

The Tar Heels (5-1) aren't the only team to experience a steep drop this week. Connecticut is down six places to 10th, while Memphis fell 13 places to 21st and California slipped five to 23rd.

Missouri, which beat California, jumps eight places to No. 13 while Nevada-Las Vegas, which upset North Carolina, enters the poll at No. 20.

Louisville (5-0) is sixth and Wisconsin (6-0) goes from 11th to seventh this week, while Baylor (5-0) is No. 8 ahead of Florida (4-1) and Connecticut (6-1).

Xavier (4-0) and Alabama (7-0) are both up one spot to 11th and 12th, respectively, Missouri (6-0) passes No. 14 Kansas (3-2) and Michigan (5-1) comes in 15th. The losses by Kansas have come at the hands of Kentucky and Duke.

Marquette (5-0) takes the 16th place ahead of, in order, Pittsburgh (5-1), Gonzaga (4-0), Vanderbilt (5-1) and UNLV (7-0).

Memphis (2-2) is 21st with Creighton (5-0) up three to 22nd and California (5-1) is at No. 23. No. 24 Mississippi State (7-1) and 25th-ranked St. Louis (6-0), weren't ranked a week ago.

Florida State, Arizona and Texas A&M are out of the Top 25 this week.