College basketball: Kansas tops AP preseason poll; UCLA at No. 21

Kansas is No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll.

Bill Self’s Jayhawks earned 37 of 65 first-place votes in results released Monday. That was nearly double that of second-ranked Kentucky.

The Jayhawks lost three starters from last year’s Final Four team, but have a restocked roster that includes transfer help from Memphis and California.

Gonzaga is No. 3, followed by Duke and Virginia to round out the top 5. The rest of the top 10 is: No. 6 Tennessee, No. 7 Nevada, No. 8 North Carolina, reigning national champion Villanova at 9 and Michigan State at 10.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has seven ranked teams, the most for any conference. The Southeastern Conference has five teams in the poll. The Pac-12 has three teams ranked, led by Oregon at No. 14.

UCLA is ranked No. 21 while USC received votes but did not crack the top 25.

Here’s a look at the preseason AP top 25:

1. Kansas (37)

2. Kentucky (19)

3. Gonzaga (1)

4. Duke (4)

5. Virginia (2)

6. Tennessee (1)

7. Nevada

8. North Carolina

9. Villanova (1)

10. Michigan State

11. Auburn

12. Kansas State

13. West Virginia

14. Oregon

15. Virginia Tech

16. Syracuse

17. Florida State

18. Mississippi State

19. Michigan

20. TCU

21. UCLA

22. Clemson

23. LSU

24. Purdue

25. Washington