IN BRIEF : Kansas Jayhawks Edge Into Top 20

They can’t be called the defending NCAA basketball champions because they’re not allowed to defend their title.

They can’t be called Danny and the Miracles anymore because Danny Manning, their marvelously talented leader, graduated to the NBA.

So just call them the 7-1, 20th-ranked Kansas Jayhawks.

“That will do just fine,” said Roy Williams, former North Carolina assistant who replaced Coach Larry Brown and, for a while at least, had every reason to regret it.

“Being ranked in the Top 20 this week is a great reward for a group of kids who have worked very hard through a lot of adversity,” he said.

Kansas was not the only team new to the Associated Press college basketball poll this week. While Duke, Michigan, Syracuse and Iowa remained the top four teams, unbeaten South Carolina moved into No. 18.

Duke, 6-0, received 49 first-place votes and 1,288 points from the nationwide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters to hold the No. 1 spot for the sixth straight poll.

Michigan, 9-0, stayed second with eight first-place votes and 1,235 points. Syracuse, 10-0, had one first-place vote and 1,167 points, while Iowa was in fourth with one first-place vote and 1,040 points.

Illinois, 7-0, moved from sixth to fifth with 1,003 points, 12 more than Georgetown, 6-0, which dropped one spot in the voting. Oklahoma, North Carolina, Arizona and Missouri held places 7 to 10.

South Carolina, 5-0, broke into the poll with an 83-81 overtime victory over Tennessee, which dropped three spots to 19th after the loss.

Florida State was 11th, followed by Ohio State, Nevada-Las Vegas, Louisville, Seton Hall, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kansas.