Kansas basketball is not the favorite to win the Big Conference this coming season; however, that doesn’t mean the Jayhawks should be counted out.
The Jayhawks have been nothing short of dominant since the beginning of the Big 12 in 1996. Kansas basketball has won 19 of the regular season titles, and it’s safe to say that the Big 12 runs through Lawrence.
Despite this, Kansas is not the favorite to win the conference for the 2020-21 season according to Busting Brackets, NBC, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, and USA Today. The projected best team in the Big 12 is… Baylor, which isn’t much of a surprise. The Bears were easily going to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament last season, and they’re returning the core of that team, including MaCio Teague and Jared Butler.
While the Jayhawks are still a top ten team and even a top-five team in many overall preseason rankings, Baylor is generally a top-three team across the board. For Kansas, this means one thing: they’ve got to prove to people that they’re still the top dog in the Big 12.
While the Jayhawks are sort of an unknown right now due to the fact that they don’t have any bonafide stars (like Azubuike or Dotson) on their roster, Kansas has all of the pieces they need for a Big 12 repeat.
Guys like Marcus Garrett, Ochai Agbaji, and David McCormack have experience and are ready to step into more important roles. Newcomers Bryce Thompson and Tyon Grant-Foster could end up being key pieces as well.
Of course, Kansas also has Hall of Fame coach Bill Self, who’ll undoubtedly have the Jayhawks playing their best basketball by the time the conference slate rolls around.
The Big 12 is loaded from top to bottom this year, unlike last season. Kansas, Baylor, Texas Tech, Texas, and West Virginia are all likely to be ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 when it comes out, and the conference could have as many as eight teams in the NCAA Tournament.
So while Kansas basketball may not be the favorite to win it, the Jayhawks are still going to be one of the best teams in a loaded Big 12.