Kansas basketball has arguably the toughest schedule in the country this season.
For the second season in a row, Kansas basketball is playing one of the most difficult schedules in the nation. It shows in the Jayhawks’ record, both in terms of wins and losses. The quality of Kansas’ opponents is a good thing for the Jayhawks, too.
Kansas basketball has six quadrant one victories so far this season, which leads the NCAA. Some of their quality wins include East Tennessee State, BYU on a neutral court, Dayton on a neutral court, Colorado, Stanford on the road, West Virginia, and Iowa State on the road.
Torvik gives Kansas a 6-3 record in quality games, with losses coming to Duke on a neutral court, Villanova on the road, and Baylor at home.
Despite the losses, the amount of quality wins the Jayhawks have plus the ones they’ll get in the future should help Kansas quite a bit during Selection Sunday.
According to KenPom, the Jayhawks rank first in the country in overall strength of schedule. Looking at other prominent teams, nobody comes close to the difficulty of Kansas’ schedule. For example, Duke ranks number 47, Baylor ranks number 58, Gonzaga ranks number 242, and Auburn ranks number 113.
While Kansas is sitting at three losses on the season, it’s important to realize that two of them were to top five teams, while the other was a top 20 team on the road. The Jayhawks’ loss to the Bears was one of the toughest to endure, not only because it was at home, but because it gives Baylor the inside track to a Big 12 title.
The season is far from over though, and Kansas will meet Baylor again in Waco. Hopefully, the Bears will lose a few games between now and then too.
While teams like Gonzaga have proven that you don’t have to be in a tough conference to be highly seeded, it’s good that the Jayhawks play such a grueling schedule. It exposes Kansas to great teams early in the season for the sake of being better prepared late in the season.