Kansas climbs to No. 1 in poll

Bill Self didn't have to wait long to be No. 1 at Kansas.

The Jayhawks took advantage of losses by the top four teams lastweek to jump from No. 6 to No. 1 in the Associated Press' collegebasketball poll Monday.

Kansas' move to the top was the biggest in almost 40 years andmatched the second-biggest in the history of the poll, which startedin the 1948-49 season.

"I don't believe we're deserving of it, but I don't know if anyoneis right now," Self said. "There are probably 10 to 12 teams outthere who could be No. 1 the way things played out last week."

Kansas beat then-No. 3 Michigan State 81-74 in its only game lastweek. Combined with losses by Connecticut, Duke and Arizona, whichwere ranked No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 last week, and an unimpressivevictory by then-No. 5 Missouri, it meant another trip to No. 1 forthe Jayhawks.

Florida beat Arizona 78-77 to move up from No. 8 to No. 2. GeorgiaTech defeated Connecticut and Purdue beat Duke, moving those teamsinto the rankings for the first time this season. The Yellow Jacketsare 13th and the Boilermakers 20th.

Kansas was ranked No. 1 for four weeks in the 2001-02 season, itsfirst stint at the top since getting there five consecutive seasonsfrom 1992-93 through 1996-97.

Nine teams received first-place votes this week, backing up Self'spoint of not being deserving of the top spot.

"Although it's very early, we'll enjoy the time we have it andcertainly hope to maintain it," said Self, who left Illinois for theJayhawks' job after Roy Williams departed Kansas to become the coachat North Carolina.

The Jayhawks (3-0) defeated Texas Christian 85-66 late Monday inFort Worth in their first game since starting guard Michael Lee brokehis right collarbone in practice last week. He is expected to be outup to two months.

Keith Langford scored 24 points on 9-for-10 shooting, and JeffHawkins added 19 points for Kansas. Corey Santee led the Horned Frogs(1-2) with 19 points.

Kansas' jump from No. 6 to No. 1 matched Duke's rise in 1965, andthose were second only to West Virginia's move from No. 8 to No. 1 in1957. The Jayhawks received 52 first-place votes and 1,750 pointsfrom the 72-member national media panel. Florida received eight first-place votes and 1,604 points.

Connecticut, which was a runaway No. 1 in the preseason poll andfor the first two weeks of the regular season, dropped to third afterits 77-61 loss to Georgia Tech in the semifinals of the PreseasonNIT. The Huskies received one first-place vote.

Missouri, the only member of the top five last week that didn'tlose, moved up one place to No. 4 after beating Oakland, Mich., 90-85 in its season opener. The Tigers got three first-place votes.

Michigan State dropped from No. 3 to No. 5 after its loss toKansas and Duke from No. 2 to No. 6 after its 78-68 loss to Purdue inthe title game of the Great Alaska Shootout. Arizona, Texas, Kentuckyand North Carolina rounded out the top 10. All but Michigan State andArizona received at least one first-place vote.

Georgia Tech was the ninth school to get at least one first-placevote. The Yellow Jackets were No. 1 on three ballots.

"This might be a surprise to some people," coach Paul Hewitt saidof his team, which was picked to finish seventh in an Atlantic CoastConference preseason poll. "But if you had been at practice everyday, it would not be a surprise. We realized early in practice thatwe had a chance to be a very good basketball team."

Among other area teams, Illinois is 11th, Wisconsin 15th, NotreDame 23rd and Marquette 24th.

NO. 3 CONNECTICUT 75, LEHIGH 55: Ben Gordon led four players indouble figures with 19 points and added five steals to pace theHuskies (5-1) past the Mountain Hawks (1-3) in Hartford, Conn.

Connecticut closed the first half with a 13-2 burst to break a 24-24 tie, then shot 55 percent in the second half to pull away. TheHuskies led by 26 points before emptying their bench with fiveminutes left.

NO. 9 KENTUCKY 89, MARSHALL 76: Gerald Fitch scored 24 points andKelenna Azubuike 16 to pace the Wildcats (3-0) past the ThunderingHerd (1-2) in their annual visit to Cincinnati.

Ronny Dawn led Marshall with 23 points, including a 7-for-9 effortfrom three-point range. The Thundering Herd stayed close untilKentucky used a 13-4 spurt to seal the victory.

AP