photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas head coach Bill Self looks at the scoreboard during the second half of an NCAA college basketball gameagainst Colorado, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Lawrence. Kansas won 71-59.

After two straight years of opening the season No. 1 in the country, the Kansas men’s basketball team will start its 2025-26 campaign at quite a different position.

The Jayhawks received a No. 19 ranking in the preseason edition of the AP Top 25 poll, which was released on Monday morning.

That’s the lowest spot at which KU has begun a season since 2008-09, when the Jayhawks ranked No. 24. KU eventually ascended as high as No. 9 that year before entering the NCAA Tournament at No. 14 and losing in the Sweet 16 to Michigan State.

This year’s roster will be led by freshman Darryn Peterson, a star guard who could potentially be the top pick in next year’s NBA Draft. Head coach Bill Self, entering his 23rd season at the helm, surrounded Peterson with a new-look roster that includes several promising but unproven freshmen, four senior transfers and a select few returnees headlined by sophomore center Flory Bidunga, who is expected to take a big jump after showing flashes in his first year in Lawrence.

Last year’s team stayed at No. 1 until a pair of mid-December road losses, then endured an up-and-down conference schedule that had the Jayhawks unranked by mid-February before they finished 11-9 in the Big 12 and suffered a first-round NCAA Tournament exit at the hands of Arkansas. Nearly everyone on that team graduated or transferred; Bidunga is the lone returning scholarship player who saw time on the court during the 2024-25 season. The only other returning players redshirted.

Quite a few of KU’s opponents this season have earned high rankings of their own. In the Big 12, Houston leads the way at No. 2, with BYU eighth, Texas Tech 10th, Arizona 13th and Iowa State 16th. Elsewhere are No. 4 UConn, which KU hosts at Allen Fieldhouse on Dec. 2; No. 6 Duke, the Jayhawks’ Champions Classic opponent on Nov. 18; and No. 25 North Carolina, KU’s first road opponent of the season on Nov. 7.

N.C. State, which KU faces in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Dec. 13, was effectively No. 26 in the country, as it led the “others receiving votes” section of the poll. Kansas State, Missouri and Baylor received votes as well.

Several teams from the Players Era Championship that KU could potentially face on Nov. 26 or 27 also made the rankings. The Jayhawks’ exhibition foe, Louisville, is No. 11. Following Late Night in the Phog on Oct. 17, KU will play the Cardinals at the KFC Yum! Center on Oct. 24 as a tune-up for the season ahead, which the Jayhawks begin for real against Green Bay in Lawrence on Nov. 3.

AP Top 25

1. Purdue (35 first-place votes)

2. Houston (16)

3. Florida (8)

4. UConn (2)

5. St. John’s

6. Duke

7. Michigan

8. BYU

9. Kentucky

10. Texas Tech

11. Louisville

12. UCLA

13. Arizona

14. Arkansas

15. Alabama

16. Iowa State

17. Illinois

18. Tennessee

19. Kansas

20. Auburn

21. Gonzaga

22. Michigan State

23. Creighton

24. Wisconsin

25. North Carolina

Also receiving votes: N.C. State, Oregon, San Diego State, Texas, Ohio State, Kansas State, Mississippi, USC, Missouri, Washington, Vanderbilt, Iowa, Boise State, Mississippi State, VCU, Virginia, Saint Mary’s, Indiana, Oklahoma, Baylor.