Kansas Jayhawks crack the top 5 in Associated Press’ preseason men’s basketball poll
Kansas’ men’s basketball team is ranked No. 3 in the country in the first Associated Press poll of the 2021-22 season.
Gonzaga snared the preseason No. 1 ranking, followed by UCLA at No. 2 and KU No. 3.
Villanova is No, 4, followed by Texas, Michigan, Purdue, Baylor, Duke, Kentucky, Illinois, Memphis, Oregon, Alabama, Houston, Arkansas, Ohio State, Tennessee, North Carolina, Florida State, Maryland, Auburn, St. Bonaventure, UConn and Virginia.
The Bulldogs earned 55 of 63 first-place votes to surpass No. 2 UCLA, which earned the other eight. Defending national champion Baylor is No. 8.
Kansas claimed its 10th straight preseason top-10 ranking.
The Big Ten and Southeastern conferences were awarded a national-best five ranked teams each.
The Big Ten has No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Purdue, No. 11 Illinois, No. 17 Ohio State and No. 21 Maryland. The SEC has No. 14 Alabama, No. 16 Arkansas, No. 18 Tennessee and No. 22 Auburn joining Kentucky.
The ACC has four ranked teams with No. 20 Florida State and No. 25 Virginia joining Duke and UNC. The Big 12 has KU, Texas and Baylor, while the Pac-12 (UCLA and No. 13 Oregon), Big East (Villanova and No. 24 Connecticut) and American Athletic Conference (No. 12 Memphis and No. 15 Houston) also had multiple Top 25 teams.
AP Preseason Men’s Basketball Top 25
1 Gonzaga
2 UCLA
3 Kansas
4 Villanova
5 Texas
6 Michigan
7 Purdue
8 Baylor
9 Duke
10 Kentucky
11 Illinois
12 Memphis
13 Oregon
14 Alabama
15 Houston
16 Arkansas
17 Ohio State
18 Tennessee
19 North Carolina
20 Florida State
21 Maryland
22 Auburn
23 St. Bonaventure
24 UConn
25 Virginia
Also receiving votes:
Michigan State 87, Indiana 41, USC 30, Arizona 26, Virginia Tech 25, Oklahoma State 25, Xavier 22, Texas Tech 17, Richmond 13, Rutgers 11, Colorado State 11, LSU 7, Belmont 7, San Diego State 5, St. John’s 5, Mississippi State 5, Syracuse 5, Drake 4, Colorado 4, BYU 3, Notre Dame 3, Louisville 3
The Associated Press contributed to this report
