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How much does Kansas need a reboot?
That’s the question heading into the 2025-26 season after the No. 7 Jayhawks were bounced from the NCAA tournament in the first round by No. 10 Arkansas on Thursday. Despite a late second-half surge by KU, the Razorbacks held the Jayhawks at bay for a 79-72 win. Arkansas’ victory snapped a 17-year streak of first-round NCAA tournament wins for Kansas dating back to the 2006 season.
In that span, Kansas has won two national titles and been to four Final Fours. Bill Self has established himself as a Hall of Fame coach as his team had 10 No. 1 seeds in those 17 seasons.
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The second of those national titles came at the end of the 2021-2022 season, when KU beat North Carolina 72-69. Four of Kansas’ five starters scored in double figures. All five of those starters spent their entire careers at Kansas.
College basketball has changed a lot since then. A lot. Just before that season, players officially earned the right to earn name, image and likeness deals in 2021 along with the ability to transfer freely. And they’ve evolved significantly since then.
Since that national title, Kansas hasn’t made the second weekend of an NCAA tournament. Two years ago, the No. 1 Jayhawks lost to Arkansas — a team coached by Eric Musselman, not John Calipari — by a point in the second round. Last year, KU got blown out by No. 5 Gonzaga as a No. 4 seed with Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar sidelined for the postseason.
The NCAA tournament loss can be overblown. But those defeats combined with Kansas’ sliding seed make it worth wondering just what changes the Jayhawks have to make going forward to get back to the top of college basketball. After dominating the Big 12 for much of the 2000s, Kansas has finished sixth over the past two seasons.
Following the loss Thursday night, Self said he felt his team had a competitive roster, but not one that was worth comparing to the best teams in the country.
Kansas’ first big foray into the transfer portal was the addition of former Michigan center Hunter Dickinson ahead of the 2023-24 season. Dickinson has been an all-Big 12 performer during the regular season, but the big man has limitations in an increasingly position-less college basketball. Against Gonzaga he shot just 36% from inside the arc.
Thursday night, he was just 4-of-13 from the field for 11 points. And perhaps most damningly, Kansas took the lead with Dickinson on the bench.
After Dickinson left the game with 9:29 to go, Kansas trailed 62-59. Over the next four minutes, KU went on a 7-2 run to take the lead. The lead got to three shortly after Dickinson entered the game … and KU was promptly outscored 15-4 over the final 4:55.
Ahead of the 2024-25 season, Kansas added Lawrence native Zeke Mayo from South Dakota State, Rylan Griffen from Alabama, AJ Storr from Wisconsin and David Coit from Northern Illinois. With KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris returning alongside Dickinson, the hope was the incoming transfer class could push Kansas back to the No. 1 seed line.
It was a thought shared by a lot of people across college basketball. The Jayhawks opened the season at No. 1 and beat Duke in November. But losses to Creighton and Missouri before conference play began showed the fragilities of the team.
Dickinson led the team in scoring once again. Mayo was right behind with 14.5 points per game. Adams and Harris each averaged just under 10 points. Every other player on the roster had less than seven per contest.
But there’s plenty of opportunities to make amends in the portal this offseason. Four of Kansas’ top six scorers in 2024-25 were seniors and a top-10 recruiting class that includes No. 3 recruit Darryn Peterson has just three players signed so far after the Jayhawks took just two recruits last offseason.
Five high school signees in two years shows just how much Self and Kansas realize the importance of the transfer portal. And how they navigate it this offseason could determine if this is just a short-term slump or the new normal for the Jayhawks.
Continue reading...
That’s the question heading into the 2025-26 season after the No. 7 Jayhawks were bounced from the NCAA tournament in the first round by No. 10 Arkansas on Thursday. Despite a late second-half surge by KU, the Razorbacks held the Jayhawks at bay for a 79-72 win. Arkansas’ victory snapped a 17-year streak of first-round NCAA tournament wins for Kansas dating back to the 2006 season.
In that span, Kansas has won two national titles and been to four Final Fours. Bill Self has established himself as a Hall of Fame coach as his team had 10 No. 1 seeds in those 17 seasons.
[Yahoo Fantasy Bracket Mayhem is back: Enter for a shot to win up to $50K]
The second of those national titles came at the end of the 2021-2022 season, when KU beat North Carolina 72-69. Four of Kansas’ five starters scored in double figures. All five of those starters spent their entire careers at Kansas.
College basketball has changed a lot since then. A lot. Just before that season, players officially earned the right to earn name, image and likeness deals in 2021 along with the ability to transfer freely. And they’ve evolved significantly since then.
Since that national title, Kansas hasn’t made the second weekend of an NCAA tournament. Two years ago, the No. 1 Jayhawks lost to Arkansas — a team coached by Eric Musselman, not John Calipari — by a point in the second round. Last year, KU got blown out by No. 5 Gonzaga as a No. 4 seed with Texas Tech transfer Kevin McCullar sidelined for the postseason.
The NCAA tournament loss can be overblown. But those defeats combined with Kansas’ sliding seed make it worth wondering just what changes the Jayhawks have to make going forward to get back to the top of college basketball. After dominating the Big 12 for much of the 2000s, Kansas has finished sixth over the past two seasons.
Following the loss Thursday night, Self said he felt his team had a competitive roster, but not one that was worth comparing to the best teams in the country.
Kansas’ first big foray into the transfer portal was the addition of former Michigan center Hunter Dickinson ahead of the 2023-24 season. Dickinson has been an all-Big 12 performer during the regular season, but the big man has limitations in an increasingly position-less college basketball. Against Gonzaga he shot just 36% from inside the arc.
Thursday night, he was just 4-of-13 from the field for 11 points. And perhaps most damningly, Kansas took the lead with Dickinson on the bench.
After Dickinson left the game with 9:29 to go, Kansas trailed 62-59. Over the next four minutes, KU went on a 7-2 run to take the lead. The lead got to three shortly after Dickinson entered the game … and KU was promptly outscored 15-4 over the final 4:55.
Ahead of the 2024-25 season, Kansas added Lawrence native Zeke Mayo from South Dakota State, Rylan Griffen from Alabama, AJ Storr from Wisconsin and David Coit from Northern Illinois. With KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris returning alongside Dickinson, the hope was the incoming transfer class could push Kansas back to the No. 1 seed line.
It was a thought shared by a lot of people across college basketball. The Jayhawks opened the season at No. 1 and beat Duke in November. But losses to Creighton and Missouri before conference play began showed the fragilities of the team.
Dickinson led the team in scoring once again. Mayo was right behind with 14.5 points per game. Adams and Harris each averaged just under 10 points. Every other player on the roster had less than seven per contest.
But there’s plenty of opportunities to make amends in the portal this offseason. Four of Kansas’ top six scorers in 2024-25 were seniors and a top-10 recruiting class that includes No. 3 recruit Darryn Peterson has just three players signed so far after the Jayhawks took just two recruits last offseason.
Five high school signees in two years shows just how much Self and Kansas realize the importance of the transfer portal. And how they navigate it this offseason could determine if this is just a short-term slump or the new normal for the Jayhawks.
Continue reading...
