For the second consecutive season, the Kansas Jayhawks will open the college basketball season as the nation's top team.

 

KU received 30 of the 60 possible first place votes from the Associated Press in their preseason poll, with Alabama receiving 14 votes and two-time defending champion UConn receiving 11 votes.

 

Houston and Iowa State also represent the Big 12 in the Top 5, at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. Gonzaga, Duke, Baylor, North Carolina, and Arizona round out the top ten teams.

 

Kansas returns All-American center Hunter Dickinson, as well as adding star transfer AJ Storr, who averaged 17 points per game as a junior at Wisconsin.

 

It is the fifth time the Jayhawks have opened the season as the top team, the fourth most in Division 1 history behind North Carolina, Duke, and UCLA.