As Expected, Kansas Starts Season No. 1

Kansas coach Bill Self has known the bulls-eye was coming the Jayhawks' way for quite some time.

But there is nothing like dealing with the reality that the rest of the nation is looking up at you, as Self came to realize Thursday when his Jayhawks were selected as the consensus preseason No.1 team in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Top 25 polls for just the second time in program history.

Now comes the difficult part of living up to those lofty expectations.

"I'm not really surprised because a lot of people have said all along we would be here," said Self, who returns all five starters from last season's team that finished 27-8 and 14-2 in the Big 12 while advancing to the Sweet 16.

"This is a reflection of last year's performance, who you return and who you recruited from a projection standpoint. We return good players and have a nice recruiting class. I can see us being rated that high, but I hope our guys understand preseason rankings do not mean a lot and it should be our effort to try and play to that ranking each and every day we come out to practice."

The Jayhawks have been the anticipated preseason No. 1 team since late spring when it became obvious that they would have their top nine scorers back to go along with a star-studded recruiting class. They will be led on the floor by center Cole Aldrich and point guard Sherron Collins, who both led the Jayhawks last season to their fifth straight Big 12 title.

Kansas will certainly have to take the next step to avoid being the disappointment the 2004-05 team -- the first Jayhawks squad to enter the season No. 1 -- ultimately became after being bounced from the Tournament in the opening round by Bucknell. Self isn't sure the comparisons to his second team at Kansas are fair.

"That was a tired team that fizzled late. This team is more talented, deeper and probably has more margin for error than that team. But that team had some great leaders with Aaron (Miles), Wayne (Simien), Keith (Langford) and Michael (Lee) and I have yet to see that leadership except from Sherron (Collins) and Cole (Aldrich). We have to have some young guys step up."

Behind the Kansas Jayhawks in both polls are Michigan State at No. 2 and Big 12 rival Texas has been selected third by the voters in both polls. A combination of Kentucky, North Carolina and Villanova round out the next three spots in varying order.

But the pressure is at the top where the Jayhawks received 55 of a possible 66 first-place votes in the AP poll. They received 27 first-place votes in the coaches' poll.

"I almost hope there is pressure because I hope they realize that if they are not their best every day and try to get better each and every day, someone else has our game circled on their schedule," said Self, whose team was also picked to finish first in the Big 12 preseason poll. "I hope we don't have to be taught a lot of valuable lessons."

Associated Press Preseason Poll
1. Kansas
2. Michigan State
3. Texas
4. Kentucky
5. Villanova
6. North Carolina
7. Purdue
8. West Virginia
9. Duke
10. Tennessee
11. Butler
12. Connecticut
13. California
14. Washington
15. Michigan
16. Ohio State
17. Oklahoma
18. Mississippi State
19. Louisville
20. Georgetown
21. Dayton
22. Georgia Tech
23. Illinois
24. Clemson
25. Minnesota

ESPN/USA Today Preseason Coaches' Poll
1. Kansas
2. Michigan State
3. Texas
4. North Carolina
5. Kentucky
6. Villanova
7. Purdue
8. Duke
9. West Virginia
10. Butler
11. Tennessee
12. California
13. Washington
14. Connecticut
15. Michigan
16. Oklahoma
17. Ohio State
18. Minnesota
19. Mississippi State
20. Georgia Tech
21. Georgetown
22. Dayton
23. Louisville
24. Clemson
25. Syracuse