For the 17th time in school history, the Kansas State men’s basketball team earned a ranking in The Associated Press Preseason Top 25 poll earlier today (October 22), placing 12th with 922 points.
It was the highest preseason ranking since K-State started the 2010-11 campaign at No. 3, while it was the 12th time debuting in the AP preseason Top 15 (1951-52, 1952-53, 1953-54, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1958-59, 1961-62, 1964-65, 1965-66, 1975-76 and 2010-11) in school history.
Overall, the Wildcats have earned preseason rankings in the AP poll in 16 other seasons, including 1949-50 (No. 20), 1950-51 (No. 20), 1951-52 (No. 5), 1952-53 (No. 2), 1953-54 (No. 8), 1956-57 (No. 14), 1957-58 (No. 5), 1958-59 (No. 3), 1960-61 (No. 20), 1961-62 (No. 8), 1964-65 (No. 8), 1965-66 (No. 10), 1972-73 (No. 17), 1975-76 (No. 14), 2007-08 (No. 25) and 2010-11 (No. 3).
Kansas was selected No. 1 with 1,581 points and 37 first-place votes, followed by No. 2 Kentucky with 1,529 points and 19 first-place votes, No. 3 Gonzaga (1,461 points and 1 first-place votes), No. 4 Duke (1,452 points and 4 first-place votes) and No. 5 Virginia (1,286 points and 2 first-place votes). The rest of the Top 10 included No. 6 Tennessee (1,268 and 1 first-place vote), No. 7 Nevada (1,230 points), No. 8 North Carolina (1,221 points), No. 9 Villanova (1,085 points and 1 first-place vote) and No. 10 Michigan State (1,024 points).
K-State was one of four Big 12 teams in the AP Preseason Top 25 poll with No. 13 West Virginia (678 points) and No. 20 TCU (311 points). Texas Tech (6 points) and Texas (5 points) were among 28 teams receiving votes.
The Wildcats enter the 2018-19 season having been ranked in the AP poll in 208 weeks. It is the first overall AP ranking since coming in at No. 25 in the 10th week of the 2016-17 season, while it is the first in the AP Top 15 since concluding the 2012-13 season at No. 12.
It is not the first preseason ranking for K-State, including No. 11 by NBCSports.com, Yahoo! Sports, Street & Smith’s, Lindy’s and Athlon, No. 12 by ESPN.com, CBSSports.com, USA Today, Stadium, No. 13 by The Athletic, Blue Ribbon Yearbook and No. 14 by SI.com.
Picked by the league coaches to finish second in the annual Big 12 preseason poll, K-State returns 10 lettermen, including six players who combined to start all 37 games a season ago, for a squad that won 25 games for just the sixth time in school history and advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in eight years.
