Jayhawks still 2nd in AP poll with 23 first-place votes; 6 Big 12 teams now ranked

By Matt Tait     Jan 16, 2023

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Following a wild week that saw 11 of the 25 teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 lose at least once, the top four spots remained unchanged on Monday.

Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks remained in the No. 2 spot — behind Houston — while Purdue and Alabama landed at Nos. 3 and 4.

The rest of the poll saw quite a shake-up, with several teams dropping out, a few teams changing places and Florida Atlantic landing in the poll for the first time in school history.

Kansas picked up 23 of the 60 first-place votes this week — one more than last week — and actually closed the gap on the top-ranked Cougars by three votes. Houston landed on top with 34 first-place votes and 1,460 points and Kansas was in the No. 2 spot with 1,446 points. Houston (17-1) led KU (16-1) by 17 points a week ago.

All 60 voters had Kansas in their top four this week, with 23 voting them in the No. 1 spot, 25 putting the Jayhawks at No. 2, seven putting them at No. 3 and five ranking the current Big 12 leaders at No. 4.

Purdue (16-1) picked up the remaining three first-place votes in this week’s poll.

The Big 12 Conference has six teams ranked this week, with Baylor returning to the Top 25 at No. 21. The five Big 12 teams ranked ahead of the Bears all reside in the Top 14, up three spots from a week ago, when those same five teams all were ranked in the Top 17.

Texas moved up three spots from No. 10 to No. 7; Iowa State, even with its loss at KU, jumped two spots from No. 14 to No. 12; Kansas State fell two spots to No. 13 and TCU was right behind them both at No. 14.

Their presence in the poll underscores the conference’s ranking as the top dog in college basketball so far this season in both the NET and RPI rankings.

The Big 12 leads the Big Ten, SEC, and Mountain West in the most recent NET Conference Rankings. The Pac-12 and ACC are currently ranked sixth and seventh, respectively.

No. 2 Kansas will travel to No. 13 Kansas State on Tuesday night for one of the most highly anticipated Sunflower Showdowns in recent memory.

KU is coming off of back to back wins over Oklahoma and Iowa State and is riding a 10-game winning streak. The Wildcats (15-2) are coming off of a week in which they defeated Oklahoma State and lost at No. 14 TCU.

Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. from Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.

KU women drop out

Three consecutive losses knocked the Kansas women’s basketball team from the land of the ranked on Monday, with KU falling from No. 23 in the AP Top 25 into the others receiving votes category.

The Jayhawks (12-3 overall, 2-3 Big 12) picked up 4 votes to land in what is essentially the No. 36 spot in the poll.

Two of KU’s three losses came on the road (at Texas and at Oklahoma) and the third was at home to then-No. 21 Baylor.

The Jayhawks and Bears are both unranked this week, with BU making much bigger news by dropping out of the poll for the first time since 2004.

Brandon Schneider’s team returns home Wednesday, when it plays host to West Virginia at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.