Kansas No. 1 in Feb. 14 Men’s Basketball National Polls
Lawrence, Kan. – Kansas (24-1, 9-1 Big 12) men’s basketball moved up one spot to No. 1 for the first time in the 2010-11 season as the Associated Press and /USA Today Coaches’ polls were released Feb. 14.
“I think our players will be excited to be number one in both polls but I don’t think it is a big deal,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said after his team’s shoot around at Kansas State for tonight’s Big Monday contest. “I think it is something that they (the polls) fully recognize that we have a nice team but there are a lot of other teams that could make just as strong a case for being ranked number one like we can.”
This marks the fifth time during Bill Self’s eight seasons that Kansas has reached the No. 1 ranking. KU also was No. 1 during 2003-04, 2004-05, 2007-08 (only in the coaches’ final poll) and 15 weeks last season in 2009-10.
“It’s great in February to be ranked this high but we know in order to stay up there and have a chance to do what we hope to do, we’ve got to keep trying to get better,” Self said. “Our focus is to get better and not on the rankings.”
This marks the 19th time in the Bill Self era that Kansas has been ranked No. 1 in both polls.
This marks the 34th-straight week Kansas has been ranked No. 7 or higher in both polls. In that span, KU has been ranked in the top five 30 times. In the Bill Self era, Kansas has been ranked in the top 10 in 95 AP polls and 98 /USA Today polls.
Updated 02-15-2011
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