The Kansas women’s basketball team fell just short of being ranked in the Associated Press poll for the first time in nearly a decade on Monday.
The Jayhawks (19-5, 10-4 Big 12) earned only 39 votes, five fewer than Georgia and Oregon, who were 25th with 44 votes. They still received the most votes of any team that is not ranked, putting them in 27th place.
The last time KU was ranked in the AP poll was on Jan. 14, 2013, when it was 23rd.
A 71-68 victory at Texas Tech on Saturday prolonged what is now a seven-game winning streak, its longest against Big 12 opponents since the close of the 1996-97 regular season.
It seemed like that win would have punctuated a return to the rankings, especially as three of the five lowest-ranked teams from the previous poll (Georgia, Iowa and Virginia Tech) lost games within the past week — even though all three lost to other ranked teams.
KU has received at least one vote in the poll three times this season. It received 18 votes a week ago, the second most by teams outside the top 25.
Kansas has now reached 10 conference wins for the first time since 1999-2000 — a mark that coach Brandon Schneider, in his seventh season, has repeatedly said should allow it to be selected for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012-13.
The Jayhawks were No. 35 on Monday in the NCAA’s NET rankings, a guideline that is used for consideration for the 68-team NCAA Tournament. ESPN’s most recent tournament projection, released Friday morning, had them as a No. 9 seed.
They will head into the Big 12 tournament with games remaining against the top four teams in the conference. After facing No. 9 Iowa State at home on Wednesday, they will hit the road to face No. 5 Baylor, return home for a game against No. 11 Texas and finish with a game at No. 20 Oklahoma.
