COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Quick, name the two schools in the NCAA tournament who have won the most games the past two years?

Hint: They're the only teams in the tournament with a coaching staff member named Orlando.

There is, however, one notable difference between Kentucky, which has won 58 games the past two seasons to lead all NCAA schools, and Pitt, which has won 57:

Nobody is disputing or grumbling about Kentucky's seeding in the tournament.

The Wildcats (26-4) are making their NCAA-record 45th appearance as the No. 1 overall seed, a position they earned with nine consecutive victories and a 25th Southeastern Conference tournament championship.

"We've played well enough all year," said Kentucky forward Erik Daniels. "We've earned our seed."

Kentucky, which will play in the St. Louis regional, starts on the road to the Final Four with a 7:10 p.m. game today against Florida A&M (15-16), which entered the tournament with a victory against Lehigh in a play-in game.

The Wildcats are 29-point favorites to advance to a second-round game against the winner of No. 8 Washington vs. No. 9 Alabama-Birmingham. The only thing more surprising than a Kentucky upset would be to see very few blue-clad Wildcats fans in Nationwide Arena.

"Anytime you're a No. 1 seed playing against a lower seed, you have to guard against being overconfident and not look past them," Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith said. "That's something we're trying to do."

Handling the daunting pressure of expectation is something they accept at Kentucky. The Wildcats own NCAA tournament records for appearances (45), wins (92) and games played (131), and have won seven national championships, second only to UCLA (11).

Being the No. 1 seed in the tournament barely makes them blanche.

"When we lose, it's kind of real traumatic," said guard Gerald Fitch, the SEC tournament MVP who has averaged 19.5 points the past six games. "Being at Kentucky, they don't like losses. It's a lot bigger than any other schools."

Perhaps that explains why the Wildcats never lost back-to-back games this season. Or why they haven't lost back-to-back games since Jan. 9, 2002.

Kentucky's last loss this season was 74-68 Feb. 14 at Georgia, the second regular-season loss to the Bulldogs. The Wildcats, though, atoned for the sweep with a 69-60 victory in the second round of the SEC tournament, preventing Georgia from becoming only the second team in 84 years to win three games in a season against Kentucky.

"I don't know that there's any more pressure on us," Smith said. "Maybe because we have more numbers ... you don't have the type of numbers we have, with attendance, and there not be pressure.

"But we understand that. Our guys embellish that. Only their best is expected and only their best is accepted. If you can't handle that, you can't play at Kentucky, because it's always going to be there."

Smith has carried on the tradition. He won a national championship at Kentucky the first year he replaced Rick Pitino (1997-98) and has taken the Wildcats to two appearances in the Elite Eight and two in the Sweet 16.

Smith is one of two active coaches -- Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton is the other -- to take three different teams to the NCAA's Sweet 16. His 23-9 record in the NCAA tournament is the fifth-best winning percentage (71.9) among active coaches.

"With veteran players, with experienced players, they have a tendency to know how to react," said Smith, whose real first name is Orlando, same as Pitt's director of basketball operations, Orlando Antigua. "That's been a real plus for us. All of them have been here before."