The Jayhawks were the clear No. 1 pick in the AP Top 25 preseason men’s basketball poll released Monday, earning 46 of 63 first-place votes to easily outdistance No. 2 Duke and No. 3 Purdue. It’s the third time since Self’s arrival in Lawrence in 2003 that his team will start the season on top but the first time since the 2018-19 season.
“You know you’ll have a target on your back playing at Kansas,” said Kevin McCullar Jr., who decided to return for a second season with the Jayhawks and fifth in college hoops. “We’ll have that chip on our shoulder, you know, prove everybody wrong, and state why you should be the No. 1 team in the nation. You go out there and use that. You use that as fuel every day.”
RANK TEAM
1 Kansas
2 Duke
3 Purdue
4 Michigan State
5 Marquette
6 UConn
7 Houston
8 Creighton
9 Tennessee
10 Florida Atlantic
11 Gonzaga
12 Arizona
13 Miami (FL)
14 Arkansas
15 Texas A&M
16 Kentucky
17 San Diego State
18 Texas
19 North Carolina
20 Baylor
21 USC
22 Villanova
23 Saint Mary’s
24 Alabama
25 Illinois