A day before making their exhibition debut, the Kansas Jayhawks, as expected, appeared near the top of the first AP Top 25 of the upcoming college basketball season.
KU will enter 2016-17 as the No. 3 team in the nation, just behind two fellow perennial powerhouses, No. 1 Duke and No. 2 Kentucky.
The Blue Devils received the vast majority of first-place votes, with 58. UK also received a couple of No. 1 nods. Not one AP voter deemed KU worthy of the preseason’s top slot. But defending national champion Villanova, which came in at No. 4, had four first-place votes. A solitary voter tabbed No. 5 Oregon as best in the land.
Kansas begins the regular season on Friday, Nov. 11, in Honolulu, Hawaii, against the AP’s preseason No. 11 team, Indiana. Then the Jayhawks will head to New York for a highly anticipated showdown with No. 1 Duke, on Nov. 15.
The AP voters showed the Big 12 some respect, by including four teams in the rankings. No. 20 West Virginia, No. 21 Texas and No. 24 Iowa State join Kansas in the inaugural top 25 of the season.
The Jayhawks were voted No. 2 entering this season in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
No. 1 Duke
No. 2 Kentucky
No. 3 Kansas
No. 4 Villanova
No. 5 Oregon
No. 6 North Carolina
No. 7 Xavier
No. 8 Virginia
No. 9 Wisconsin
No. 10 Arizona
No. 11 Indiana
No. 12 Michigan State
No. 13 Louisville
No. 14 Gonzaga
No. 15 Purdue
No. 16 UCLA
No. 17 Saint Mary’s
No. 18 Connecticut
No. 19 Syracuse
No. 20 West Virgina
No. 21 Texas
No. 22 Creighton
No. 23 Rhode Island
No. 24 Iowa State
No. 25 Maryland