Kansas University’s men’s basketball team is the popular pick of the Big 12 coaches to win the conference regular-season championship.

Again.

For the seventh time in 11 years, the Jayhawks have been tapped first in the coaches’ preseason poll. KU on Monday claimed 11 first-place votes and 121 points.

Texas A&M received one vote – from KU coach Bill Self, who was not allowed to recognize his own squad.

Billy Gillispie’s Aggies totaled 109 points and placed second in the poll, followed in order by Oklahoma State (97), Texas (95), Kansas State (76), Texas Tech (68), Baylor (60), Missouri (44), Oklahoma (42), Nebraska (37), Iowa State (23) and Colorado (20).

“We’ve got some guys,” Self acknowledged, adding, “A&M does have two players on the first-team (Acie Law, Joseph Jones). They will be good. A lot of teams will be improved. I’m excited about our league. Our league was down last year, to be candid. There have been some changes that will energize some programs.”

Six new coaches join the league. They are: Mike Anderson, Missouri; Jeff Capel, Oklahoma; Bob Huggins, Kansas State; Greg McDermott, Iowa State; Doc Sadler, Nebraska; and Sean Sutton, Oklahoma State.

Self is now fourth in coaching seniority in the league. Only Ricardo Patton (Colorado), Rick Barnes (Texas) and Bob Knight (Texas Tech) having worked more years at their schools.

“With the transition, there are a lot of different styles in our league,” Self said.

“Missouri will play up-tempo. Kansas State will pressure you. Kansas State was close (to garnering an NCAA bid) last year. Bob has brought in some additional players and will have that team ready to play every night. Missouri will be improved. There’s a lot of excitement in this state and this area about basketball, and rightly so.”

The Jayhawks are not backing away from high expectations.

“It just shows that people recognize we are going to be good,” KU guard Russell Robinson said.

Just last week, Brandon Rush and Julian Wright were tapped conference preseason players of the year and in coming weeks, KU will likely be ranked between No. 1 and 5 nationally in the AP and USA Today polls.

“Everybody is good right now. We’re going to continue to work to get better to hopefully live up to everybody’s expectations and hopefully surpass them,” Robinson added. “I think we’ve got the tools to do it and coaching staff to do it and I think we’ll do great.”

Self said the team, in spite of all the praise, must “be focused. What really matters is what the coaches think and teammates think. You have to keep other thoughts out. Our guys are going to get bombarded the next couple months (with flattery).”

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Notes: KU was last picked preseason league champ in 2004-05 when the Jayhawks tied in the preseason poll with Oklahoma State and indeed won a share of the crown. … The Jayhawks have won six Big 12 titles in 10 years, including four of the last five. … A&M’s second-place finish is the highest placement in the preseason tally in school history. The previous best was seventh prior to last season. A&M has four starters back, plus its top six scorers. … Oklahoma State has eight of its top 10 scorers back and will be looking to compete in the postseason for the 11th straight year. … Texas will be breaking in five new starters.

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Recruiting: Kyle Singler, a 6-9 senior from South Medford (Ore.) High, who visited KU for Friday’s Late Night in the Phog, plans on choosing either KU, Duke or Arizona within the next couple of weeks. Singler’s dad, Ed, told rivals.com his son had a “great time” on his visit to KU despite being under the weather and would choose a school within “the next few weeks.”