Kansas Basketball Opens at No. 17 in Preseason AP Top 25 Poll

The Kansas Jayhawks were ranked lower than expected in the recent AP Preseason Top 25 poll that was released Monday morning.

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Associated Press (AP) released their Preseason Top 25 Poll for the 2026-27 college basketball season on Monday, and the Kansas Jayhawks find themselves ranked a bit lower than expected.

KU comes in at No. 17 in the poll. They are one of five Big 12 teams to be ranked inside the top 25, along with Arizona (No. 5), Houston (No. 10), Iowa State (No. 18), Texas Tech (No. 19), and BYU (No. 25). TCU also received votes.

The ranking is a bit of a surprise, given the additions that Bill Self has made to this roster in the past few weeks. With the return of Melvin Council Jr. and Tre White, the Jayhawks were seen as a true national title contender.

KenPom has the Jayhawks ranked No. 8 in their preseason rankings, and KU is ranked No. 5 on EvanMiya.com. Those are two of the most trusted sources in all of college basketball with vastly higher ratings for KU than where the Jayhawks find themselves in the AP poll – the latter of which is voted on by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters across the country.

It’s important to note that the AP poll was released prior to the news of KU adding Purdue transfer Trey Kaufman-Renn. However, the ranking still feels low given the roster KU had prior to his addition.

Perhaps voters were skeptical on the long-term eligibility of Council and White, or perhaps they knocked KU for not having a lot of national star power outside of freshman Tyran Stokes, who was recently named a Preseason First Team All-American and Preseason Freshman of the Year.

Regardless, it’s hard to believe that there are 16 teams better than KU with the roster that Self has assembled over the past few months.

The team will have a good measurement of where they stack up against the country’s best with a pair of high-profile exhibition matchups this week versus Louisville and Duke inside Allen Fieldhouse. Tipoff for the Louisville game is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on Wednesday (ESPNU), while the Duke game tips off at noon CT this Sunday, Oct. 25 (ESPN).

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