The Jayhawks nudged Wake Forest for the top spot in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, which was released Thursday. KU tallied eight first-place votes and 741 points. Runner-up Wake Forest snared 12 first-place votes but just 726 points.

Third-ranked North Carolina received six first-place votes and 697 points. Georgia Tech (No. 4) and Illinois (No. 5) each nabbed a first-place vote, as did Oklahoma State (No. 8), Arizona (No. 11) and Louisville (No. 13).

“Certainly our players will be excited of the ranking, but they also understand it is undeserved because this team, along with others, has yet to play a game,” said KU coach Bill Self, who, like most coaches, doesn’t put much stock in preseason polls.

“We need to start practicing better if we have any chance to play like a team that deserves to be ranked that high in the preseason.”

KU last topped ESPN’s preseason poll before the start of the 1996-97 season. KU held the No. 1 ranking the entire regular season, finishing No. 5 in the final poll after falling to Arizona in the Sweet 16.

The last time KU was No. 1 in the poll was Dec. 1, 2003. KU fell from the ranking the following week and ended the season No. 9. KU has appeared in the Top 10 of the preseason poll in nine of the last 10 years.

“All we are, and we talk about this all the time as a team, we are in the game,” Self said, noting “15 to 20 schools” all had a chance to claim the national title.

“We have really good players and we have some experience. That doesn’t put us ahead of anybody else.”

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Sutton, Sr., hobbling: Oklahoma State has a key injury to begin the season. Not to a player, but to 68-year-old coach Eddie Sutton, who suffered five cracks in his tailbone in a fall three weeks ago at his home.

“I guess it’s one of the most painful injuries you can have,” said OSU associate head coach Sean Sutton, who subbed for his dad at Thursday’s Big 12 Conference Media Day in Kansas City, Mo.

Eddie Sutton has been able to attend practice, using a cane — actually a sawed-off pool cue that once was used by Eddie’s dad — for support.

“On a few occasions when we have a total meltdown on the court, you know he’s about to hammer that cane on the floor,” Sean Sutton said. “The last four or five days the players sense he’s getting back his fire and energy level.”

Senior guard John Lucas says Eddie Sutton has been quite fiery.

“The worse thing they could give coach Sutton is that cane,” Lucas said. “He’ll bang the cane and say, ‘If it’s not done this way, you’re going to get on this line and run.”’

In May, Lucas was in Los Angeles with his coach for the ESPY Awards when Sutton had another mishap. Sutton was bumped on an escalator at Los Angeles International Airport and smashed his face on a step. He needed several stitches to close cuts on his nose.

“Coach came to the Playboy Mansion after it happened and you couldn’t tell anything happened to him,” said Lucas, who was at the Mansion for the pre-ESPY party.

“I met a lot of people. I took a picture of the guy who knocked out Roy Jones the boxer, cause he (Jones) is one of my favorite athletes.”

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Knight pontificates: Texas Tech coach Bob Knight was in a chatty mood Thursday. He was asked about all the talented players in the world.

“The only one of our seven continents we haven’t had a really good player come from is Antarctica,” Knight said. “I got a note from a guy about a 7-foot penguin that can play his (bleep) off. That’s the last frontier.”

He was asked about new NCAA recruiting rules in response to the Colorado football scandal.

“There was a movie, ‘Rush to Judgment,”’ Knight said. “Colorado has all these problems and now we’ve got to make a whole set of rules. It wasn’t like there were 50 schools that had all these problems, but now we’ve got to make a whole set of rules because of something that happened at one school. I think that falls under the title, ‘Rush to Judgment.”’

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KSU snub: Kansas State senior forward Jeremiah Massey received no honorable-mention votes from the league’s coaches on the all-Big 12 team.

“I was personally surprised because I have always been very honest about our players and their capabilities and their production,” KSU coach Jim Wooldridge said. “I think Jeremiah is one of the best players in the league. That’s my opinion. I think his numbers back it up.”

Massey’s response: “Actually, I don’t care. I am just looking forward to playing this season. I really don’t need any accolades or any awards or anything like that. I just want to go out and win some games.”

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Graham’s good: Missouri’s Quin Snyder calls OSU senior Joey Graham the best player in the league.

“I definitely think I am one of the best players in the conference. It takes hard work and dedication,” Graham said. “Hopefully, I can just maintain and stay consistent throughout this whole year as I did last year. Things will turn out great for us this year.”