Kentucky stays No. 1 heading to conference tourney action

New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – Kentucky finished the regular season the same way it started the campaign, as the No. 1 team in the country.

The Wildcats will head into the SEC Tournament with a perfect 31-0 record and will try to become the first team since UNLV in 1990-91 to go from the preseason poll to the NCAA Tournament as the top-ranked team according to the Associated Press.

Kentucky was again a unanimous choice among the 65 nationwide voters, earning that distinction for a sixth consecutive week.

Duke moved up one spot to second, while Virginia slipped one spot to third after the Cavaliers came up short on Saturday at Louisville and suffered just their second loss of the season.

Villanova, Arizona, Wisconsin and Gonzaga held their positions from fourth through seventh, respectively, while Maryland moved up two spots to eighth. Kansas and Northern Iowa completed this week’s top 10. Northern Iowa moved up one spot after winning the Missouri Valley Tournament title on Sunday.

The second 10 consists of Notre Dame, Wichita State, Iowa State, Louisville, Oklahoma, Baylor, Utah, West Virginia, North Carolina and SMU. Wichita State dropped four spots from eighth after the Missouri Valley regular-season champs lost to Illinois State in the semifinals of the league tournament.

Arkansas, Butler and newcomers Georgetown, Davidson and Boise State are the last five teams ranked. Georgetown was ranked for three weeks in two different stints earlier this season, while Davidson is in the poll for the first time since 2008 and Boise State has its first-ever ranking.

Providence, Ohio State and Murray State each dropped out. Providence lost to Butler on Saturday, while Ohio State was throttled at home by Wisconsin on Sunday and Murray State fell to Belmont in the final of the Ohio Valley Tournament on Saturday.

Categorized in: NCAA Basketball