Nick KrugAfter a week in the land of the unranked, the Kansas Jayhawks are back in the Associated Press Top 25, jumping 10 spots to No. 23 in this week’s poll.
After seeing its NCAA-record streak of 231 consecutive weeks ranked in the AP poll come to an end last week, the Jayhawks ripped off three wins in six days to move back into the Top 25.
“It feels good to be back in the top 25,” junior guard Ochai Agbaji said Monday. “We’ve just got to keep working off of it and I think this is just a start for where we actually want to be at about two weeks from now.”
Losses last week by the 23rd, 24th and 25th ranked teams helped clear out a spot for Kansas. And the Jayhawks themselves were responsible for dishing out one of those losses, knocking off then-No. 23 Oklahoma State at home on Feb. 8.
The Cowboys, who responded to the loss to KU with a win over Kansas State, dropped three spots in this week’s poll and are currently sitting as the top team receiving votes in the No. 26 spot.
“We probably deserve it as much as anybody else that’s in that (20-25) range,” Self said Monday afternoon. “We had a good week last week. … I’m happy we’re back in there. But it doesn’t mean anything. You know, we’ll stay in if we keep winning and we won’t stay in if we don’t. But I’d much rather be in than not in.”
If the Kansas men’s basketball program rips off another streak of 231 consecutive weeks ranked in the AP Top 25, the week of Feb. 8-14, 2021 is going to go down as one heck of a blip in the program’s storied history.
For now, though, the streak is at one. And the Jayhawks move forward hoping to make it two weeks in a row by staying in the poll or moving up a week from now.
The rest of KU’s regular season schedule features several opportunities for signature, resume-building victories heading into the postseason.
The week ahead features a Wednesday game at Kansas State (7 p.m. on ESPN+) and a home showdown with No. 15 Texas Tech at 1 p.m. on ESPN on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse.
After that, KU closes the regular season at No. 12 Texas and home against No. 2 Baylor.
Kansas is 4-6 this season against teams in the current AP Top 25. And the Jayhawks are 4-7 against Quadrant 1 opponents per the NCAA’s NET rankings, where the Jayhawks sit at No. 20 entering the week.
KU’s 11 games against Quadrant 1 opponents is tied with West Virginia for the most in the conference and tied for third nationally.
KU is unbeaten (10-0) against Quadrant 2, 3 and 4 foes, with the victory over Division II Washburn not counting in the NET rankings.
As for the rest of this week’s AP poll, the top four spots remained the same, with No. 5 Illinois jumping up a spot to join top-ranked Gonzaga, No. 2 Baylor, No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Ohio State in the top five.
Houston, Virginia, Alabama, Oklahoma and Villanova round out this week’s top 10.
In all, six Big 12 Conference teams are ranked this week, with OSU giving the conference seven teams in the top 26.
1 – Gonzaga, 20-0, 1,595 (59)
2 – Baylor, 17-0, 1,541 (5)
3 – Michigan, 14-1, 1,469
4 – Ohio State, 17-4, 1,402
5 – Illinois, 14-5, 1,290
6 – Houston, 17-2, 1,171
7 – Virginia, 15-3, 1,130
8 – Alabama, 17-5, 1,086
9 – Oklahoma, 13-5, 1,072
10 – Villanova, 13-3, 1,061
11 – Iowa, 15-6, 911
12 – Texas, 13-5, 886
13 – West Virginia, 14-6, 837
14 – Creighton, 16-5, 794
15 – Texas Tech, 14-6, 792
16 – Florida State, 11-3, 625
17 – USC, 17-3, 587
18 – Virginia Tech, 14-4, 514
19 – Tennessee, 14-5, 453
20 – Missouri, 13-5, 413
21 – Wisconsin, 15-7, 274
22 – Loyola Chicago, 0-0, 167
23 – Kansas, 15-7, 141
24 – Arkansas, 16-5, 111
25 – 15-4, 75
Others receiving votes: Oklahoma State 71, Rutgers 49, Belmont 47, Louisville 40, Colorado 31, Oregon 30, Drake 22, Purdue 20, Florida 17, Clemson 17, LSU 16, UCLA 11, Virginia Commonwealth 10, Saint Louis 5, Xavier 4, Toledo 3, UC Santa Barbara 2, Western Kentucky 2, North Carolina 2, BYU 1, Wichita State 1, Wright State 1, Utah State 1.
