Kentucky near-unanimous No. 1

MCLEAN, Va., March 12 (UPI) -- Kentucky heads into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1-ranked team but the USA Today/ESPN Board of Coaches didn't make it unanimous.

The Wildcats (32-2) were beaten in the Southeastern Conference tournament title game 71-64 by Vanderbilt. That didn't seem to matter to the NCAA Division I Tournament selection committee, which installed Kentucky as the No. 1 overall seed.

But it apparently did to Wisconsin-Milwaukee Coach Rob Jeter, who placed the Wildcats second on his ballot. The other 30 coaches all had Kentucky No. 1. The Wildcats were a unanimous No. 1 the seven previous weeks.

Syracuse (31-2) remains No. 2 while Missouri (30-4), which got Jeter's first-place vote, moves from fifth to third after its Big 12 tournament championship. Michigan State (27-7) is up four spots to fourth after it won the Big Ten tournament.

North Carolina (29-5) drops one place to No. 5, ahead of Kansas (27-6), down three to sixth, while Ohio State (27-7) is again seventh. Duke (27-6) slips two to No. 8 with Murray State (30-1) and Baylor (27-7) both up one to ninth and 10th, respectively.

Marquette (25-7) comes in at 11th while Florida State (24-9) jumps five rungs to 12th after an ACC tournament win. Wisconsin (24-9) is 13th, Michigan (24-9) is at the 14th place and Georgetown (23-8) is No. 15. Those three all are down one place.

St. Mary's (Calif.) (27-5) is 16th with Indiana (25-8) in 17th, Louisville (26-9) taking the 18th spot, Wichita State (27-5) coming in at 19 and Creighton (28-5) at No. 20.

Florida (23-10) is at No. 21 with, in order, New Mexico (27-6), San Diego State (26-7), Vanderbilt (24-10) and Nevada-Las Vegas (26-8) rounding out the Top 25.

Louisville, New Mexico and Vanderbilt weren't ranked a week ago. Notre Dame, Temple and Gonzaga all drop from the ranking.