The University of Kentucky’s basketball program, placed...

The University of Kentucky’s basketball program, placed on three years’ probation by the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. two weeks ago, was dealt another blow when the presidents of the Southeastern Conference stripped the Wildcats of the 1988 SEC championship.

The presidents voted, 8-0, to vacate both the 1987-88 regular-season and 1988 SEC tournament titles won by Kentucky because “institutional staff members did or should have known about the ineligibility” of former star Eric Manuel.

University President Dr. David Roselle abstained from voting, and Florida, which had its 1984 football title taken away because it ran afoul of NCAA rules, was not represented during the portion of the annual SEC spring meeting devoted to discussing the Kentucky case.

The NCAA placed Kentucky’s basketball program on probation May 19, barring the Wildcats from postseason play for two years and live television for one season, and declared Manuel ineligible at any NCAA school.