Nick KrugThe Kansas men’s basketball program will open defense of its 2022 national title tied for the No. 5 spot in the nation in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll.
KU was tied with fellow Big 12-member Baylor for the No. 5 spot when the poll was released Monday morning.
KU’s position marks the 11th consecutive year that the program will enter a season ranked in the top seven and the 13th time in the last 14 seasons that the Jayhawks have entered the season at No. 7 or higher in the AP poll. That stretch includes 10 seasons in the top five and five in the top three.
When previewing where the 2022-23 Jayhawks sit as they prepare to defend the 2022 title, Kansas coach Bill Self said last week that the current team still has some work to do to be mentioned with that group.
“I like them,” Self said of his roster. “We’ve got good players. But we’re comparing it to a team that was pretty good in April or March and we’re not near ready to play to that level yet.
The Jayhawks, who recently were picked to finish second in the Big 12 Conference by the league’s coaches in their preseason poll, are one of five Big 12 teams ranked in the AP’s preseason Top 25. That’s tied with the SEC for the most ranked teams in a single conference.
The four Big 12 teams joining the Jayhawks in the season-opening rankings are: No. 5 Baylor, No. 12 Texas, No. 14 TCU and No. 25 Texas Tech.
North Carolina, Gonzaga, Houston and Kentucky were the four teams ahead of the Jayhawks and Bears in the No. 5 spot.
Late last week, KenPom.com released its initial rankings for the upcoming 2022-23 season and the Jayhawks landed in the No. 8 spot there.
Because the KenPom rankings are so data driven, the first few sets of rankings are skewed a little bit toward past performance, rather than providing a true indication of where teams actually rank in the current year. That much is obvious when looking at how KenPom currently has zeroes for every team in the strength of schedule and luck categories.
Those will fill out as the season moves along and provide a more true indication of where teams should be ranked per KenPom’s metrics.
Self’s squad returns two starters and a handful of other contributors from last season’s 34-6 team that won it all in New Orleans. The Jayhawks enter the season with plenty of questions — particularly on offense — but also added Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar Jr., a likely starter, and one of the top five recruiting classes in the country.
McCullar will join 2021-22 starters Dajuan Harris Jr. and Jalen Wilson to make up the core of this season’s team, which also includes returners KJ Adams, Zach Clemence, Joe Yesufu, Bobby Pettiford and others.
Kansas will open the 2022-23 season with an exhibition game against Pitt State on Nov. 3. After that, it’s the regular season home opener against Omaha on Nov. 7 along with another home game against North Dakota State on Nov. 10 before heading to Indianapolis to take on No. 7 Duke in the Champions Classic on Nov. 15.
Complete Preseason AP Top 25:
1 – North Carolina (47) – 1,532
2 – Gonzaga (12) – 1,479
3 – Houston (1) – 1,404
4 – Kentucky (2) – 1,364
T5 – Kansas – 1,200
T5 – Baylor – 1,200
7 – Duke – 1,168
8 – UCLA – 1,093
9 – Creighton – 1,060
10 – Arkansas – 1,026
11 – Tennessee – 880
12 – Texas – 844
13 – Indiana – 745
14 – TCU – 735
15 – Auburn – 623
16 – Villanova – 578
17 – Arizona – 543
18 – Virginia – 462
19 – San Diego State – 394
20 – Alabama – 281
21 – Oregon – 260
22 – Michigan – 229
23 – Illinois – 215
24 – Dayton – 170
25 – Texas Tech – 122
Others receiving votes: Texas A&M 112, UConn 101, Miami 66, Purdue 56, Saint Louis 36, Michigan State 35, Florida State 32, Xavier 29, Wyoming 25, Ohio State 23, Iowa 13, Rutgers 4, Florida 3, USC 3, Toledo 1, Virginia Tech 1, Memphis 1, Notre Dame 1, UAB 1
