Kansas

Kansas takes top spot in AP Top 25 men's basketball preseason poll over Alabama and defending champs UConn

Published

1 year ago

October 14, 2024

Kansas takes top spot in AP Top 25 men's basketball preseason poll over Alabama and defending champs UConn

Kansas star center Hunter Dickinson will have even more help this season, with Jayhawks coach Bill Self bringing in a few key transfers. (Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images)

With college men’s basketball approaching, the Associated Press released the preseason Top 25 poll on Monday. Kansas once again is at No. 1, with Alabama in second and UConn, the defending NCAA champions, in third.

Kansas received 30 first-place votes to take the top spot, while Alabama received 14 and UConn received 11. Houston, who is in the No. 4 spot, received four first-place votes, while No. 6 Gonzaga received one.

Rounding out the rest of the Top 10 is Iowa State in fifth, Duke — led by top freshman recruit Cooper Flagg — at No. 7, and Baylor, North Carolina and Arizona in eight, ninth and tenth, respectively.

Kansas, who topped the preseason poll last year as well, struggled throughout the season and eventually lost to Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA tournament. This season — in addition to senior Jayhawks stars Hunter Dickinson, Dajuan Harris Jr. and KJ Adams Jr. — Kansas coach Bill Self added several key transfers, with A.J. Storr (Wisconsin), Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State) and Rylan Griffen (Alabama) joining the squad.

“We welcome being No. 1, especially with our returning players like Hunter, Dajuan and KJ, and then you add the players we brought in,” Self said, per the Associated Press. “The goal is to be No. 1 at the end of the season, and though we welcome this, it is not the end goal.”

The Big 12 conference has some of the highest-ranked teams in the poll, holding three of the top five and five of the top 10. The SEC has the most in the Top 25 overall, with nine teams in total.

Purdue, ranked No. 14, will be readjusting without star center Zach Edey, who was drafted by the Memphis Grizzlies. Rutgers, meanwhile, is at No. 25, marking the first time that the team has been ranked in the preseason poll since 1978, per the AP.

AP Top 25

The full AP preseason Top 25 poll from October 24, 2024

1. Kansas

2. Alabama

3. UConn

4. Houston

5. Iowa State

6. Gonzaga

7. Duke

8. Baylor

9. North Carolina

10. Arizona

11. Auburn

12. Tenneessee

13. Texas A&M

14. Purdue

15. Creighton

16. Arkansas

17. Indiana

18. Marquette

19. Texas

20. Cincinnati

21. Florida

22. UCLA

23. Kentucky

24. Ole Miss

25. Rutgers

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Kansas

Former Kansas high school wrestling coach charged with producing child pornography

Published

15 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Former Kansas high school wrestling coach charged with producing child pornography

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) – A former Kansas wrestling coach was charged with creating child sexual abuse materials by secretly recording minors showering during an athletic competition.

According to court documents, 37-year-old Ryan Brungardt of Salina is charged with two counts of production of child pornography and one count of attempted production of child pornography.

Brungardt is a former employee at Lakewood Middle School and former wrestling coach for Salina Central High School.

Brungardt is accused of using a cellphone to record three minors while they showered in a locker room during the Tournament of Champions, a wrestling tournament was held at Newton High in January 2024.

Brungardt made his initial court appearance for the criminal complaint on Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooks G. Severson.

A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday

Investigators are in the process of reviewing additional seized cellphone videos in this case that are suspected to have been recorded at wrestling meets in Newton, Hays, Garden City and Salina during the 2023-2024 wrestling season.

Anyone who believes they witnessed crimes or any suspicious activity at these events is asked to contact the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at (785) 600-8790 or report at www.kbi.ks.gov/sar.

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