Jayhawks fall out of AP Top 25 for first time since 2009

By Matt Tait     Feb 8, 2021

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Kansas forward Mitch Lightfoot (44) and Kansas guard Dajuan Harris (3) have a chat while waiting to check in during the second half on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2021 at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Kansas men’s basketball team took another tumble in the Associated Press Top 25 this week, falling 10 spots to No. 33 and falling out of the Top 25 for the first time in 232 weeks.

The Jayhawks (12-7 overall, 6-5 Big 12) received 18 votes in this week’s poll, missing out on the 25th and final spot occupied by Rutgers by 47 votes.

The last time the Jayhawks were not ranked came in late January of 2009.

Since then, KU had remained in the poll — often in the top 10 — for an NCAA record 231 consecutive weeks.

That mark, which snapped UCLA’s record of 221 consecutive weeks ranked earlier this season, underlined the consistent and sustained excellence KU has experienced under head coach Bill Self, who now is in his 18th season in charge of the program.

“It’s a great deal,” Kansas coach Bill Self said of the record streak. “It’s sad (it came) to an end. But all we can do is hopefully play well enough to start another one.”

After opening the 2020-21 season at No. 6 in the rankings and hanging in the top five or 10 for most of the first couple of months, KU encountered significant struggles when Big 12 play began.

KU opened the season with an 8-1 record and climbed all the way to No. 3 in the AP poll.

The Jayhawks opened 2021 with a 25-point home loss to Texas and then went on to drop three in a row, at Oklahoma State, at Baylor and at Oklahoma.

That started the tumble. Two more road losses in recent weeks — at Tennessee on Jan. 30 and at West Virginia over the weekend — added to it, and the Jayhawks enter [tonight’s game with No. 23 Oklahoma State (8 p.m. on ESPN at Allen Fieldhouse)][1] having lost five of their last seven games.

The only wins for KU since Jan. 9 have come against Kansas State and TCU, both at home.

KU’s absence in this week’s poll merely adds to the list of tradition-rich and blue blood programs that have fallen on hard times this season.

Joining Kansas in the world of the unranked are Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky and Michigan State. In fact, none of the 13 winningest programs in the history of college basketball are ranked in this week’s AP Top 25.

Perhaps even more amazingly is the fact that six of the Big 12’s 10 teams are ranked this week and Kansas is not one of them.

Top-ranked Gonzaga, at 89 straight weeks, now owns the nation’s longest active AP Top 25 streak.

Here’s a look at this week’s complete poll:
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1 – Gonzaga, 18-0, 1,567 (55)

2 – Baylor, 17-0, 1,520 (8)

3 – Michigan, 13-1, 1,438

4 – Ohio State, 15-4, 1,365

5 – Villanova, 12-2, 1,281

6 – Illinois, 13-5, 1,239

7 – Texas Tech, 14-5, 1,102

8 – Houston, 16-2, 1,060

9 – Virginia, 13-3, 969

10 – Missouri, 13-3, 966

11 – Alabama, 15-5, 911

12 – Oklahoma, 12-5, 863

13 – Texas, 11-5, 841

14 – West Virginia, 824

15 – Iowa, 13-6, 757

16 – Tennessee, 13-4, 690

17 – Florida State, 10-3, 514

18 – Virginia Tech, 14-4, 486

19 – Creighton, 14-5, 465

20 – USC, 15-3, 411

21 – Wisconsin, 14-6, 358

22 – Loyola Chicago, 0-0, 200

23 – Oklahoma State, 12-5, 181

24 – Purdue, 13-7, 85

25 – Rutgers, 11-6, 65

**Others receiving votes:** Colorado 41, San Diego State 38, Xavier 37, UCLA 35, Florida 29, Louisville 28, Belmont 25, Kansas 18, Drake 16, Minnesota 12, North Carolina 8, St. John’s 7, Toledo 6, Clemson 6, Arkansas 3, Boise State 3, Saint Louis 2, UAB 1, Virginia Commonwealth 1, BYU 1

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2021/feb/07/game-day-breakdown-kansas-basketball-vs-oklahoma-s/

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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.