Cats No. 4 and No. 5 in pre-season polls

Staff, Wire Reports

BASKETBALL: Rider at UK
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Coach John Calipari's first Kentucky basketball team enters the season ranked No. 4 in The Associated Press media poll and No. 5 in the USA Today-ESPN coaches' poll released Thursday.

Kentucky, which finished 22-14 under coach Billy Gillispie and failed to make the NCAA Tournament last season, is ranked behind No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Michigan State and No. 3 Texas in the AP Top 25.

The coaches' top five were Kansas, Michigan State, Texas, North Carolina and Kentucky.

Kansas was a runaway No. 1 in both polls, securing 27 of a possible 31 first-place votes from the coaches and 55 of 65 from the media.

Kansas has all five starters and the top nine scorers back from last season's team that went 27-8 and reached the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks also feature a recruiting class considered among the nation's best.

"I'm not surprised," Coach Bill Self said. "But I know this — we aren't practicing like a team that's pre-season No. 1 in the country. It has been a very few good days of practice, but we do have good players. ... There's a lot of excitement surrounding these guys."

Kentucky's No. 4 ranking by the AP represents its first appearance in the top five since March 13, 2005, when the Cats were also No. 4.

Kentucky received three first-place votes from the media but none from the coaches.

Tennessee and Mississippi State were the only two ranked teams from the Southeastern Conference other than Kentucky.

Louisville is ranked No. 19 by the media and No. 23 by the coaches.