Kansas tops AP Top 25 preseason men’s basketball poll; Villanova’s not in the mix

Kansas was picked first in the AP Top 25 preseason men’s basketball poll Monday, getting the No. 1 nod on half of the 60 ballots from a national media panel to start the season ahead of Alabama and two-time defending national champion UConn.

Kansas scooped up 30 first-place votes from the AP panel. The Crimson Tide, led by All-American guard Mark Sears and Jarin Stevenson, earned 14 first-place votes, and UConn, which is trying to become the first school since John Wooden’s teams at UCLA to win three straight titles, received 11 first-place votes and is third.

Villanova failed to land in the Top 25 after an 18-16 finish last season that closed with a 70-61 loss to Virginia Commonwealth in the National Invitation Tournament.

Houston earned four first-place votes and is fourth, ahead of Iowa State, which returns its top four scorers from a team that was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga received one first-place vote and is the sixth.

Duke, led by consensus No. 1 recruit Cooper Flagg, is seventh ahead of Baylor, North Carolina, and Arizona in the top 10.

The Jayhawks were preseason No. 1 a year ago, too, but the season hardly went as planned. They were dragged down by injuries and struggled in Big 12 play, and a team led by All-American center Hunter Dickinson ultimately was routed by Cincinnati in the conference tournament and Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Kansas coach Bill Self retooled in the offseason, landing one of the nation’s top transfer classes. A.J. Storr of Wisconsin, South Dakota State guard Zeke Mayo, and Rylan Griffen from Alabama are part of a versatile bunch joining Dickinson and fellow seniors Dajuan Harris Jr. and KJ Adams Jr. — both part of their 2022 national title squad — to form a deeper and more talented team.

» READ MORE: Villanova star Eric Dixon suspended one game for participation in pre-draft event

“We welcome being No. 1, especially with our returning players like Hunter, Dajuan, and KJ, and then you add the players we brought in,” Self said. “The goal is to be No. 1 at the end of the season, and though we welcome this, it is not the end goal.”

The new-look Big 12, which lost Oklahoma and Texas but welcomed Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado, has three of the top five and five of the top 10 in the preseason AP poll. The SEC leads the way with nine in the Top 25.

“To have three Big 12 teams in the top five and five in the top 10 just shows how competitive this league will be,” Self said. “Every year we talk about the Big 12 being the toughest conference in the nation and with the four additions it became even stronger.”

No. 11 Auburn, Tennessee, and Texas A&M start off the second 10, followed by Purdue and Creighton. John Calipari has Arkansas at No. 16 with Indiana, Marquette, Texas, and Cincinnati — making its first poll appearance since 2019 — in the top 20.

The Boilermakers are trying to win a third straight Big Ten title after the departure of AP player of the year Zach Edey.

“We have three starters back from a Final Four team. We have five freshmen. We have a lot of guys with experience outside of those three starters,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “We’re excited about it. We’re excited about this group.”

Florida, UCLA, Kentucky, Ole Miss, and Rutgers round out the preseason Top 25.

“I’m excited about the expectations,” said Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell, whose team is ranked in the preseason poll for the first time since 1978. “We always had high expectations, and now in a league with 18 teams, you know, people are saying, ‘How good are you? There’s 18 teams. They’re great coaches.’ I don’t know where we sit. If you came to our practice yesterday, you would say, ‘Oh, boy.’ And if you came a couple of days earlier, you might think, ‘Hey, they’re going to be pretty good.‘”

Illinois is tops among others receiving votes after reaching the Elite Eight. Rick Pitino has St. John’s on the doorstep along with Xavier, Texas Tech, and Wake Forest. The first regular-season poll is due out Nov. 11.

Four schools that have never appeared in the Top 25 received preseason votes, led by McNeese State, which went back to the NCAA Tournament last season. Little Rock, Grand Canyon, and High Point also received votes.