Kansas basketball lands in the top 10 in Andy Katz’s Power 36

Kansas basketball has come in at No. 7 in Andy Katz’s Power 36 for the 2020-21 season.

Andy Katz has released his Power 36 for next season and Kansas basketball landed at No. 7 in the rankings. It’s not the top five, but it’s not a bad spot to be. Remember, players are going to transfer and declare for the draft between now and the beginning of next season, so the Jayhawks could move up.

In picking Kansas seventh, Katz cites the probable departure of All-American Devon Dotson while also heralding Marcus Garrett, David McCormack, and five-star recruit Bryce Thompson.

Here’s Katz’s synopsis of KU basketball:

"“The status of Devon Dotson isn’t known yet. But what we do know is the top defensive player in the country — Naismith Award winner Marcus Garrett — should be back. David McCormack should star in replacing Udoka Azubuike. And the addition of Bryce Thompson means KU will be the pick in the Big 12.”"

Interestingly, Katz calls Kansas the “pick in the Big 12” while ranking Baylor at No. 2 overall. Other Big 12 schools ranked include Texas Tech No.17, West Virginia at No. 18, Texas at No. 22, Oklahoma at No. 26, and Oklahoma State at No. 30.

The Big 12 was extremely top-heavy last season with Kansas and Baylor being national title contenders and the rest of the conference being anywhere from average to lousy. Don’t expect things to be that way again, with both West Virginia and Texas Tech looking much improved from last season.

Keep an eye on Oklahoma State too. The Cowboys signed Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2020. The Jayhawks are in a good position with their recruiting class too, with their 2020 class ranking fairly high.

READ MORE: Breaking down the Jayhawks’ 2020 recruiting class

At this point, there’s not a lot going on with Kansas basketball. Nobody has transferred or declared for the NBA Draft, and while it’s fun to think about Devon Dotson coming back for another season, the odds of that seem unlikely.

However, if Dotson was to return for his junior year, it’d surely move Kansas up in the rankings, maybe even into first over Gonzaga. Not only that, but it’d probably make KU basketball one of the early favorites to win it all in 2021. While Dot coming back is a longshot, Katz didn’t necessarily rule it out, so we won’t either.