RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Kansas coach Bill Self sees big holes when he looks at his roster after losing three starters, including Associated Press All-American Devonte’ Graham.

The voters in the AP Top 25 poll see something different: a roster restocked so well that Jayhawks will start the season as the nation’s top team.

Kansas checked in at No. 1 in the preseason poll released Monday, earning the top spot to start a season for the third time in program history, all under Self. The Jayhawks topped the ballot for 37 of 65 voters, nearly double that of No. 2 Kentucky.

“Obviously we lost a lot off last year’s team with Devonte’, Svi (Mykhailiuk) and Malik (Newman), so I’m a little surprised that the writers put us there this preseason,” Self said in a statement to the AP. “It’s definitely a spot we welcome and certainly know the goal is to be playing to that ranking by when it counts the most.

“With the young players, we know it’s going to take some time before we’re anywhere close to where we’re going to be, but I do like this team and I think we have a chance to be very good.”

The Jayhawks return veteran starters in junior 7-footer Udoka Azubuike and senior Lagerald Vick from a team that reached its first Final Four since 2012. They’re also adding transfer help from Memphis twins Dedric and K.J. Lawson as well as California’s Charlie Moore — all double-digit scorers on their previous teams.

And yet, the previous two times the Jayhawks started at No. 1 didn’t end well. The 2004-05 squad lost to Bucknell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. And the 2009-10 team that held the top spot for 15 of 19 weeks overall and won 33 games lost to Northern Iowa in the second round.

The ranking comes as the program finds itself entangled in the federal corruption case tied to payments used to steer recruits to certain schools. Testimony during the recent first trials included references to Self and sophomore forward Silvio De Sousa , though Self isn’t charged with wrongdoing and it’s unclear if De Sousa’s status will be affected.

CLEAR CHOICES

Voters established a clear top tier: Kansas, Kentucky, No. 3 Gonzaga and No. 4 Duke. Those four teams appeared in some combination at the top of nearly half the ballots (32 of 65).

John Calipari’s latest group of touted recruits helped the Wildcats earn 19 first-place votes to open as a top-5 team for the eighth straight season.

Gonzaga’s ranking is the program’s highest in a preseason AP poll, though the Zags have reached No. 1 during the regular season before. As for Duke, the Blue Devils had started No. 1 in each of the past two preseason AP polls.

The points gap between the Jayhawks and the Blue Devils (129 points) at fourth was slimmer than between Duke and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference program Virginia (166 points) at No. 5.

FRESH START

Speaking of Tony Bennett’s Cavaliers, one of the biggest things to watch will be how well the Virginia responds to the most historic of tournament losses.

The Cavaliers ended the regular season as the unanimous AP No. 1-ranked team and the No. 1 overall NCAA Tournament seed, yet somehow became the first 1-seed to lose to a No. 16 against UMBC. Bennett said all the right things about learning from that moment. And his team returns Kyle Guy (14.1 points), Ty Jerome (10.6 points) and its best NBA prospect in sophomore De’Andre Hunter.

Virginia has its highest preseason AP ranking since Ralph Sampson’s final team opened at No. 1 in 1982-83.

LOFTY START

The Martin twins are back along with Jordan Caroline, and that has Nevada starting the year with the program’s highest ever AP poll ranking at No. 7 after last year’s NCAA Sweet 16 run .

CHAMPS AT 9

No Jalen Brunson, no Mikal Bridges, no Final Four most outstanding player Donte DiVincenzo. And yet reigning national champion Villanova checks in at No. 9.

The Wildcats still have Eric Paschall and Phil Booth back while adding Albany graduate transfer Joe Cremo. There’s also a bit of respect built into this ranking, both for the stature of program Jay Wright has developed (two national championships in three seasons) and for the Wildcats’ dominating romp through the postseason.

CONFERENCE WATCH

The ACC had the most teams ranked of any conference: Duke, Virginia, No. 8 North Carolina, No. 15 Virginia Tech (its highest spot since the 1995-96 season), No. 16 Syracuse, No. 17 Florida State and No. 22 Clemson.

The Southeastern Conference was next up with five teams: Kentucky, No. 6 Tennessee, No. 11 Auburn (the program’s highest ranking since 2000), No. 18 Mississippi State and No. 23 LSU.

The Big 12 had four (Kansas, No. 12 Kansas State, No. 13 West Virginia and No. 20 TCU), while the Big Ten and Pac-12 each had three, led by No. 10 Michigan State and No. 14 Oregon, respectively.

THE WATCH LIST

Hello again to Porter Moser, Sister Jean and Loyola (Chicago), last year’s Final Four surprise . The Ramblers were only three points behind No. 25 Washington, putting them just outside the poll.

Marquette was next with high-scoring junior Markus Howard back, while Archie Miller’s second year at Indiana has the Hoosiers lurking nearby as well.

Several power-conference teams like Florida, Nebraska, Maryland and Wisconsin could find their way into the poll with a few early wins.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 358 yards and four touchdowns, Kareem Hunt finished with three scores and the Kansas City Chiefs rebounded from their first loss by throttling the Cincinnati Bengals 45-10 on Sunday night.

Mahomes was 28 of 39 with his only big mistake an underthrown interception, though the Chiefs (6-1) were already so far ahead of Cincinnati (4-3) by that point it didn’t really matter.

Mahomes spread the wealth, too, connecting with eight targets. Tyreek had seven catches for 68 yards and a touchdown, and Demetrius Harris had the other scoring grab for Kansas City.

The Bengals’ Andy Dalton was held to just 148 yards passing with a touchdown and an interception by the NFL’s worst defense. Joe Mixon managed 50 yards rushing on 13 carries.

BISMARCK, N.D. – The Fort Hays State men’s soccer team routed the University of Mary on Sunday, 7-0, as Santiago Agudelo was the catalyst for the Tigers in victory with three goals of this own. The Tigers improved to 12-2-1 overall, while the Marauders dipped to 3-8-1 on the season.

Santiago Agudelo was the story of the first half as he recorded his fourth hat trick of the season. Agudelo put the Tigers on the board with his 20th goal of the season in the tenth minute. In the 27th minute, Abdoulaye Cisse stole the ball on a failed clear attempt from the Mary goalkeeper, fed the ball to Agudelo who score his 21st goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, Agudelo secured his hat trick with a goal on a pass from Luis Torres who provided the one-on-one opportunity for Agudelo who took advantage and gave the Tigers the 3-0 lead just 28:29 into the contest.

The Tigers held the 3-0 advantage over the Marauders after the first 45 minutes of play.

Abdoulaye Cisse got things started in the second half for the Tigers with his third goal of the season in the 53rd minute. Tobias Patino led Cisse up the pitch with a pass for a one-on-one opportunity as Cisse sent the ball into the middle of the net.

In 61st minute, Luis Torres picked up his fifth goal of the year on another assist from Patino who led Torres for the header goal and the 5-0 lead for Fort Hays State.

Fernando Pina picked up a huge save on a penalty kick from Alberto Asencio, holding the Marauders scoreless through 70 minutes of play.

Arsenio Chamorro recorded his fourth score of the season on a header that was assisted on a throw in from Ross Boyd in the 76th minute of the match.

Nathan De La Hoya put the icing on the cake in the match as he connected on his second score of the year in the 81st minute. Mauricio Etcheverry supplied the assist for De La Hoya on a cross that was fired into the bottom right of the net. The 7-0 score would prove to be the final for the Tigers.

Tiger goalkeeper Fernando Pina earned the victory in goal for FHSU as he improved to 6-0-1 on the season all while picking up his fourth shutout on the year.

The Tigers are back in action on Friday as they resume MIAA play with Upper Iowa (Oct. 26). Kickoff against the Peacocks is slated for 3 p.m. from Fayette, Iowa.

BOLIVAR, Mo. – For the first time in ten games, the Fort Hays State women’s soccer team needed overtime to decide a winner as Southwest Baptist took the Tigers to extra time in Bolivar. With the match tied at 1-1, Vianei Sanchez connected on a pass from Nikita Woods in the fourth minute of overtime to help the Tigers earn the 2-1 win and avoid a shocking road loss. With the win, FHSU improves to 8-6-2 overall and 6-3 in MIAA play. Southwest Baptist drops to 1-13-2 while dipping to 1-7-1 in conference.

The Tigers got on the board first to net the only goal of the first half as Cailey Perkins captured her sixth goal of the season in the 24th minute. This would put Fort Hays State up 1-0, the score that would remain through halftime. The tying goal by Southwest Baptist came in the 48th minute as Raegan Edwards scored following a corner kick on a pass from Raquel Rodriguez. The 1-1 score would hold steady throughout the remainder of the second half, sending the Tigers and Bearcats to extra time.

Fort Hays State didn’t waste any time as Sanchez scored off an assist by Nikita Woods less than four minutes into the overtime period. The goal would be recorded as Sanchez’s fourth of the season, and helped the Tigers extend their win-streak to three matches.

Southwest Baptist had their fair share of attempts, as they outshot the Tigers at 19-17 in the contest. Edwards led all players on the day with nine shots, including two on target. Perkins was next in attempts with five shots and two on target as well.

Megan Kneefel added another win to her keeper record for the season alongside five saves. Kneefel raises her record for her junior campaign to 6-5-2 and now owns 64 saves. Ashlyn Gibbs suffers the loss in net for the Bearcats as she collected three saves.

Fort Hays State currently sits in a three-way tie for second place in the MIAA. Both Emporia State and Missouri Western have 6-3 records in conference as well.

The Tigers prepare for their final two regular season matches this coming weekend, as they travel to Nebraska-Kearney on Friday (Oct. 26) for a 6 p.m. kickoff. Fort Hays State will end the regular season at home on Sunday (Oct. 28) for senior day as they host Washburn at 1 p.m.

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Alan Bowman threw for 408 yards and three touchdowns while playing for the first time since suffering a partially collapsed lung three weeks ago, and Texas Tech beat Kansas 48-16 on Saturday.

Bowman completed 36 of 47 passes while showing accuracy on short and deep passes, with only one interception. The true freshman was the nation’s leading passer when he got crushed between two West Virginia defenders in Texas Tech’s last home game Sept. 29, and was released from the hospital four days later.

Antoine Wesley had nine catches for 155 yards and a touchdown. T.J. Vasher and Seth Collins also had TD catches for the Red Raiders (5-2, 3-1 Big 12), who had 553 total yards despite three turnovers.

Kansas (2-5, 0-4) lost its 43rd consecutive true Big 12 road game, dating back to a 35-33 win at Iowa State on Oct. 4, 2008.

The Jayhawks played their first game since offensive coordinator Doug Meacham was fired. Peyton Bender threw for 221 yards and two touchdowns while freshman Pooka Williams had 16 carries for 70 yards to finish 38 yards below his rushing average that was second-best in the Big 12.

THE TAKEAWAY

Kansas: The Jayhawks have lost all four of their Big 12 games after finishing their nonconference schedule with consecutive victories games for the first time since 2009.

Texas Tech: Coach Kliff Kingsbury is back to .500 as coach of his alma mater — at 35-35 overall in his sixth season. The former Red Raiders quarterback was 7-0 in his coaching debut in 2013, and is 28-35 since. Tech is one win shy of bowl eligibility, a mark it didn’t reach until the regular-season finale last year.

UP NEXT

Kansas: Home to play TCU next Saturday.

Texas Tech: Plays Saturday at Iowa State.