Team Doo Be Doo Michael Porter in action against Team EZ Pass in the Under Armour Elite 24 game on Saturday, August 22, 2015 in Brooklyn, NY.

Blue Ribbon Yearbook has ranked Kansas University’s basketball team No. 5 in the country in its preseason Top 25 poll which was released on Wednesday.

Kentucky checked in at No. 1 for the second straight season, followed by Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, KU, Duke, Arizona, Iowa State, Villanova, Gonzaga, Wichita State, Cal, Indiana, Vanderbilt, Michigan State, Oklahoma, Michigan, Oregon, Purdue, Utah, SMU, Texas A&M, UConn, Butler and Dayton.

“As we began the process of putting together our book back in the spring, Kentucky wouldn’t have been our preseason No. 1,” Blue Ribbon editor Chris Dortch said in a release. “But then the Wildcats signed Jamal Murray from Canada in June. He’s so good we thought that, combined with the players returning and other great newcomers, including Skal Labissiere, the mix has the potential for another deep run in the NCAA tournament.”

The yearbook is available for purchase at the Web address http://blueribbonyearbookonline.com/

Nonconference slate eighth best: KU’s nonconference schedule for the 2015-16 season has been ranked eighth best in the country by ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.

“Bill Self’s Jayhawks played the toughest nonconference schedule two years ago and checked in at No. 2 last season. This one isn’t quite as tough, but still cracks the top 10 with Kentucky at home, Michigan State in Chicago, three games in Maui (the Jayhawks will play either UCLA or UNLV in the second game) and also a road contest at San Diego State,” Goodman writes.

KU also will play Oregon State in Sprint Center and have home games against Northern Colorado, Loyola (Maryland), Harvard, Holy Cross, Montana and UC Irvine. Kentucky’s nonconference slate was ranked toughest in the country by Goodman.

Tracking Porter: KU coach Bill Self attended a workout of blue-chip junior prospect Michael Porter on Wednesday morning in Columbia, Missouri. Porter, a 6-8 small forward from Tolton Catholic High School, who is ranked No. 3 in the Class of 2017 by Rivals.com, is considering KU, Duke, Indiana, Kentucky, Stanford, Missouri, Syracuse, UCLA, Virginia and Washington.

Self then flew to Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, to visit with Harry Giles, a 6-10 senior forward, who is ranked No. 2 in the Class of 2016. Giles and Porter will attend the Oct. 9 Late Night in the Phog.

Oak Hill also has the country’s No. 72-rated player in 6-7 senior forward Braxton Blackwell, who has KU on his list.

Young update: Trae Young, a 6-1 junior point guard from Norman (Oklahoma) North High, who is ranked No. 26 in the Class of 2017 by Rivals.com, will make several unofficial visits in coming weeks, Zagsblog.com reports.

Young, who has talked about attending the same school as Porter, will attend the Oct. 9 Late Night. Young will also visit Texas this weekend and Kentucky for Big Blue Madness on Oct. 16.

He’s also considering Duke, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arizona, Virginia, Washington and others. UCLA has dropped Young as a recruit now that it has received a commitment from No. 23 rated Jaylen Hands, a 6-1 junior from Balboa City School in San Diego.

Young’s dad, Rayford, played for Texas Tech. He scored 41 points in a home win over KU in the 1998-99 season.

Copter coverage a no-no?: North Carolina State may have committed a secondary NCAA rules violation last week in possibly publicizing the arrival of Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried via helicopter at recruit Dennis Smith Jr.’s high school, Trinity Christian in Fayetteville.

The Fayetteville Observer showed up to take pictures and shoot video of the copter’s landing with Gottfried, who was making a recruiting visit. The Fayetteville Observer has stated the news organization learned in advance of the event from officials at the high school, not N.C. State.

The NCAA forbids schools from publicizing recruiting visits. The newspaper cited NCAA rule 13.10.1 which states, “a member institution shall not permit a media entity to be present during any recruiting contact made by an institution’s coaching staff member.”

An NCAA official told the Observer in an e-mail: “If a coach shows up for an in-house visit and media is present at the request of the recruit or high school, the coach is not permitted to speak with the recruit in the presence of the media.”

Beetle to sit out season: West Virginia suffered a major loss this week when it was announced James “Beetle” Bolden, a 6-foot freshman from Covington, Kentucky, is out for the season after suffering a torn ACL and sprained MCL in his right knee.

Bolden, from Covington, Kentucky, averaged 10.7 points in three games during WVU’s trip to the Bahamas in August. He had 10 steals and eight assists during those three contests.

“Beetle’s a great kid, and I know he will put the time in with Randy (Meador, coordinator of athletic training services) and come back stronger and hungrier than ever,” coach Bob Huggins said.