Kansas University’s men’s basketball team is now tops in the country, thanks to a victory over No. 3 Michigan State last week and losses by then-No. 1 Connecticut, No. 2 Duke and No. 4 Arizona.
The Jayhawks, ranked No. 6 last week, are ranked No. 1 in Monday’s Associated Press poll, moving ahead of the Spartans, Huskies, Blue Devils, Wildcats and the Missouri Tigers, who were ranked No. 5 last week. KU also jumped to No. 1 in the USA Today/ESPN poll.
“I don’t believe we’re deserving of it, but I don’t know if anyone is right now,” KU coach Bill Self said in a statement. “There are probably 10 to 12 teams out there who could be No. 1 the way things played out last week. Although it’s very early, we’ll enjoy the time we have it, and we certainly hope to maintain it.”
In the AP poll, the Jayhawks (2-0) received 52 first-place votes and 1,750 points from the 72-member media panel, 146 more than No. 2 Florida. The Gators (2-0) jumped up from No. 8 and received eight first-place votes after beating Arizona last week. Seven other teams received first-place votes.
KU is No. 1 for the first time since Week 16 of the 2001-02 season, and this is the first time Self has coached a team ranked No. 1.
The jump from No. 6 to No. 1 is the second-biggest leap to the top in AP history. Duke made the same jump Dec. 14, 1965. The record is a move from No. 8 to No. 1 by West Virginia on Dec. 24, 1957.
“I told our guys I am not sure anybody deserves to be No. 1 at this juncture of the season,” Self said Sunday, “but, hey, if it’s got to be somebody, it might just as well be us.
“It’d certainly bring some attention to the program. More importantly, it’d allow us to play with the bullseye even bigger on our back. Hopefully, it’d make us tougher, but it means absolutely nothing this early.”
KU will face Texas Christian University at 10 p.m. tonight. It will be the Jayhawks’ first game since losing Michael Lee for up to two months because of a broken collarbone.
Connecticut dropped to No. 3 after losing to Georgia Tech, which moved to No. 13. Missouri moved to No. 4 after a five-point victory over Oakland (Michigan), and Michigan State fell to fifth.
Duke, Arizona, Texas, Kentucky and North Carolina rounded out the top 10 of the AP poll.
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The top 25 teams in The Associated Press’ men’s college basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 30, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote and previous ranking:
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| Record | Pt | Pv | |
| 1. Kansas (52) | 2-0 | 1,750 | 6 |
| 2. Florida (8) | 2-0 | 1,604 | 8 |
| 3. Connecticut (1) | 4-1 | 1,524 | 1 |
| 4. Missouri (3) | 1-0 | 1,487 | 5 |
| 5. Michigan St. | 3-1 | 1,389 | 3 |
| 6. Duke (1) | 3-1 | 1,325 | 2 |
| 7. Arizona | 1-1 | 1,302 | 4 |
| 8. Texas (2) | 3-0 | 1,272 | 11 |
| 9. Kentucky (1) | 2-0 | 1,234 | 10 |
| 10. North Carolina (1) | 3-0 | 1,200 | 9 |
| 11. Illinois | 3-0 | 1,071 | 12 |
| 12. Saint Joseph’s | 3-0 | 916 | 13 |
| 13. Georgia Tech (3) | 5-0 | 874 | — |
| 14. Oklahoma | 3-0 | 835 | 14 |
| 15. Wisconsin | 3-0 | 720 | 15 |
| 16. Syracuse | 1-1 | 692 | 7 |
| 17. Gonzaga | 3-1 | 570 | 16 |
| 18. Wake Forest | 3-0 | 552 | 18 |
| 19. Cincinnati | 3-0 | 527 | 19 |
| 20. Purdue | 4-0 | 493 | — |
| 21. Stanford | 3-0 | 471 | 20 |
| 22. Pittsburgh | 4-0 | 391 | 22 |
| 23. Notre Dame | 2-0 | 342 | 21 |
| 24. Marquette | 4-0 | 205 | 23 |
| 25. Oklahoma St. | 3-0 | 117 | 24 |
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Others receiving votes: Louisville 99, N.C. State 83, Iowa 71, Maryland 59, Dayton 53, Texas Tech 32, Oregon 20, Indiana 17, Arizona St. 13, Auburn 12, Mississippi St. 11, Providence 10, Charlotte 9, LSU 9, BYU 5, Georgia 5, Vanderbilt 5, Butler 4, UCLA 4, Florida St. 3, Ohio St. 3, George Washington 2, Xavier 2, Arkansas 1, California 1, Manhattan 1, Murray St. 1, Nevada 1, Niagara 1.
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