By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

Several Bahamian players and their respective teams will enter the 2016-17 season this fall as some of the most highly ranked men’s basketball programmes in the NCAA.

A trio of Bahamian players saw their schools represented on the first edition of the USA Today Coaches Poll top 25.

Leading the way for the Bahamian contingent is junior forward Dwight Coleby and his Kansas Jayhawks who are ranked second in the poll.

It is the highest ranking for the Jayhawks since they were preseason No. 1 back in 2009.

In 2015-16 Kansas opened the year No. 5 in the preseason coaches’ poll and ended No. 3.

When he returns to the court healthy this season, and eligible to play, Coleby is expected to be a force in the front court for a Kanas Jayhawks team expected to be contenders for the Big 12 and National title.

Coleby was already set to spend the 2015-16 season on the sidelines as a transfer but he suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during a light team workout in October and is now near completion of his rehab process.

The 6’9” 240 pound junior forward will have two years of eligibility remaining and said he is ready to get back on the court.

Last June, Coleby announced his decision to leave the Ole Miss Rebels and join the Jayhawks programme.

The former Ole Miss Rebel said it was difficult to sit out, but he was committed to improvement on his game and playing for iconic head coach Bill Self.

Coleby averaged 5.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as a sophomore and was also named an SEC First-Year Academic Honour Roll in two seasons with the Rebels.

Kansas is ranked in the preseason for the 25th time in the 28-year history of the poll. The No 2 ranking marks the sixth time KU has been preseason No. 2 or higher in the coaches’ poll. Additionally, it is the 11th time in the Bill Self era the Jayhawks have been preseason seventh or higher, including each of the last five seasons.

Kansas returns three starters and eight letter winners from last season’s 33-5 team which went 15-3 in Big 12 play, winning its unprecedented 12th-straight, 16th Big 12 and NCAA-leading 59th overall conference regular-season championship. 

Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr and the Michigan State Spartans are currently ranked No.9 in the polls.

They will face three Top 15 opponents in November. MSU has a potential matchup with No. 14 Louisville in the Battle 4 Atlantis, and Michigan State has never played four Top 15 opponents in any month during the regular season.

Michigan State is featured in the preseason poll for the fifth consecutive season and the No. 9 ranking is the highest since the 2013-14 team entered the season as the second-ranked team in the country.

Nairn, the junior guard, is expected to lead the heralded group of freshmen in Ann Arbor.

“These guys here are special kids. They’re really talented, and all of them have something really special for the game. I don’t even look at them as freshmen when it comes to the game of basketball with how talented they are and what they can bring to us. [Miles Bridges] can do it all, I mean he is one of the best players I’ve ever played with – hands down.

“He can do everything -- he can pass, shoot, has an amazing IQ, put the ball on the floor. He can guard every position. He is just a great player,” he said.

“At the end of the day he  [Cassius Winston] is my teammate. When I came in as a freshman Travis Trice was the senior point guard. He was my roommate and always made me feel welcome every single day, even when I became starting point guard, so I’m just doing what someone else did for me.

“He’s my teammate and when we get in between those lines we’re going to compete every single day but I’ll always help him and that’s because we need him. It’s a tradition type of thing, definitely. Point guards who I haven’t even played with, Travis Walton and Mateen Cleaves, give me pointers and advice all the time, so it’s only right for me to do the same and I want to do the same thing.”

Nairn is healthy this year after battling plantar fasciitis for much of last season.

“This is a part of our culture. Being great teammates, being with each other off the floor. It’s a part of what we do here, so when you have leaders, you have to have guys who are willing to follow you. These guys coming in have done an excellent job of listening and buying into what we do here. It hasn’t been hard at all to get these guys to do what we do at Michigan State,” he said.

Shaquille Cleare enters his senior season with the Texas Longhorns and a programme ranked No. 22 in the poll.

This marks the 13th time in the last 16 years that the Longhorns have been ranked in the coaches’ preseason poll.

The Longhorns are one of three Big 12 Conference teams selected in the Top 25. Cleare averaged 3.6 points and 2.9 rebounds per game as a junior last season, his first with the Longhorns after transferring from Maryland.