For the second time in its storied basketball history, Kansas is No. 1 in The Associated Press' preseason Top 25.
The Jayhawks were a runaway choice Thursday,
receiving 55 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel
to easily outdistance Michigan State, which was No. 1 on five ballots.
There was little suspense as to which team
would top the preseason poll. Kansas has all five starters and the top
nine scorers back from last season's team that went 27-8 and reached
the third round of the NCAA tournament. The Jayhawks also feature a
recruiting class considered among the nation's best.
"I'm not surprised," said Bill Self, who was
also the coach the other time Kansas was the preseason No. 1 in
2004-05. "But I know this — we aren't practicing like a team that's
preseason No. 1 in the country. It has been a very few good days of
practice but we do have good players. … There's a lot of excitement
surrounding these guys."
The Jayhawks received great news when guard
Sherron Collins and center Cole Aldrich, last season's leading scorers,
decided to return to school rather than test the NBA draft. Then
brothers Xavier and C.J. Henry decided to enroll in Lawrence, making
the Jayhawks the early national favorite as well as the choice to win a
sixth straight Big 12 title.
"My goal for this team isn't to play to that
ranking early in the season," Self said. "My goal is to play to that
ranking when it counts the most. I hope it happens soon."
Michigan State has seven of the top nine
scorers back from the team that lost to North Carolina in the national
championship game.
Texas, Kentucky and Villanova rounded out the
top five, while North Carolina, a unanimous preseason No. 1 last
season, was sixth. Kentucky received three first-place votes and Texas
and North Carolina got one each. Purdue, West Virginia, Duke and
Tennessee completed the top 10.
While Kansas' showing this preseason may not
have been as impressive as North Carolina's a year earlier when it
became the first ever unanimous preseason pick, both had plenty of
reasons to claim No. 1.
"There are some similarities, but that North
Carolina team had been through a lot more experiences than our guys
have," Self said. "The North Carolina team had been through Final
Fours, had been to Elite Eights, had had some heartache, been through
some tough times. I don't know that this group has been through tough
times like they had. The fact we return nine guys and a good recruiting
class is the reason people are so optimistic about us."
Butler was 11th in the poll followed by
Connecticut, California, Washington, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma,
Mississippi State, Louisville and Georgetown. The last five ranked
teams were Dayton, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Clemson and Minnesota.
Kentucky, under new coach John Calipari and
with a loaded freshman class, Georgetown and Georgia Tech were the only
teams in the preseason poll not to play in the NCAA tournament last
season.
Texas, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee
lead the 13 teams in the preseason poll who were not ranked in the
final poll of last season. Louisville and North Carolina were Nos. 1
and 2 in that final poll. In addition to those two, Pittsburgh, Wake
Forest, Duke and Connecticut all were ranked No. 1 at some point in the
season.
The Big Ten has six teams in the preseason
poll, one more than the Big East. The Atlantic Coast Conference had
four and the Big 12 and Southeastern Conference three each.