A No. 1-ranked team normally needs to lose a game before it falls in the rankings.

That wasn’t the case this week, however, as demanding voters dropped Kansas University’s men’s basketball team from No. 1 to 2 in the both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN polls in reaction to the Jayhawks’ narrow 68-61 season-opening victory over Vermont.

Wake Forest, which beat George Washington and Virginia Commonwealth by 21 and 14 points respectively, flip-flopped positions with the Jayhawks, who will face Saint Joseph’s at 9:10 tonight at Allen Fieldhouse.

“Tell coach to bring tissues out to the court. They really hurt my feelings. It’s tragic, but somehow I think I’ll wake up tomorrow,” senior Keith Langford said sarcastically.

Langford and his teammates were not exactly devastated by the snub.

“Oh, well, I mean we’re not No. 1, boo-hoo, why us?” sophomore J.R. Giddens said with a smile. “That’s funny. I didn’t know you could get moved down in the rankings if you didn’t lose. Oh well.”

The Jayhawks, who are used to being ranked in the top 10, realize in basketball, ratings mean zip.

“I can understand a team busting their butts to get in the top 25 and win and drop out (and be upset), but the difference between 1 and 2 is not saying much,” Langford said. “What’s the difference between 1 and 2? For that matter, what’s the difference between 1 and 10?

“The lower we drop before we get farther into the season, I have no problem with it. We can be unranked. As long as we don’t have a loss, it makes no difference.”

KU coach Bill Self also needed to stifle a yawn when asked about the drop in the polls.

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“I’ll take losing a No. 1 ranking after a win much better than I would losing it after a loss,” he said, adding, “we didn’t deserve to be there in the first place. Nobody does.

“If our Vermont score didn’t excite anybody then that’s understandable. We are not going to apologize for winning the game against Vermont. Although we didn’t play great, I think Vermont had a lot to do with it. They are pretty good.”

The AP panel awarded KU 26 first-place votes and 1,637 points. Wake Forest received 25 firsts and 1,658 points. Meanwhile, the USA Today/ESPN panel awarded Wake 15 firsts and 746 points. KU received 12 firsts and 741 points.

In the AP poll, No. 3 Georgia Tech had 11 firsts and 1,585 points, No. 4 Syracuse had four firsts and 1,549 points, No. 5 Illinois had one first, No. 6 Oklahoma State two firsts and No. 8 Kentucky one first-place vote. ESPN/USA Today gave Georgia Tech, Illinois, Oklahoma State and Kentucky each a first place vote.

“They get the right to vote who they best feel deserves it,” Self said. “In my opinion, they shouldn’t have polls until after Christmas. How can you know who the best teams are without playing games and being tested a bit?”

It’s unknown whether the snub would motivate KU’s squad.

“I don’t even know if I’ll mention it,” Self said. “We try hard to not let what’s going on the outside affect us that much.”

The Jayhawks do seem to have an even keel about matters such as polls.

“If people are really bothered by it, we could use it as energy,” senior Michael Lee said. “But it doesn’t even matter who is No. 1 right now. It’s one person’s opinion. What matters is who is No. 1 at the end.”

St. Joe’s enters tonight’s game unranked.

“They will come out and try to beat us. We’ve got to defend our home court and our No. 2 ranking,” J.R. Giddens quipped.