Kansas fourth in AP poll

By Gary Bedore     Nov 3, 2007

The country’s coaches and writers are in agreement: North Carolina is the preseason No. 1 team in the country, followed by UCLA, Memphis and Kansas University.

The Associated Press released its rankings a week after the coaches, awarding KU a top-10 ranking for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.

“Preseason polls are nice to be in, but you have to prove it on the court,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said Friday. “The voters obviously see that we have a lot of talent with our five seniors and core players back from last season’s team, but we have a lot of work to do to live up to that ranking.”

KU, which thumped Pittsburg State, 94-59, in its exhibition opener Thursday, returns four of five starters and 13 of 14 letterwinners from last season’s 33-5 team which won the Big 12 regular and postseason championships and advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.

KU has been ranked in the top 10 of the AP Preseason poll 17 times since the 1985-86 season. KU was unranked in 2005-06 and No. 11 in ’99-2000. The Jayhawks were No. 1 in the 2004-05 poll. Last year, Kansas was ranked in the AP Top 10 for 16 weeks and ended the year No. 2, the same spot the Jayhawks opened the season.

North Carolina received 29 first place votes, UCLA 24 and Memphis 18. Joining KU from the Big 12 in the rankings: Texas at No. 15, Texas A&M at 16 and Kansas State at 25.

The last time Kansas State was ranked was No. 23 for one week in February 1993.

“For a program like us, with incredible tradition and success, being ranked again is always a great thing, and it reflects the hard work of the players and that they are getting noticed by people out there,” first-year K-State coach Frank Martin told the AP. “Will it have an influence on how we play or how good we are? Probably not.

“But it is an honor to have a program not ranked for 14 years to all of sudden by there again.”

Martin doesn’t seemed concerned that the attention will hurt his inexperienced team.

“With technology these days, when you’re a good player, you can’t hide. There’s no such thing as hiding under the radar anymore,” he said. “The days of people being unknown goes out the window because of how much attention kids get these days. These kids are exposed to the public early, and they embrace it and don’t run away from it.”

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