Kansas basketball received a top-five spot in the preseason KenPom rankings, and the Big 12 has strong representation in the top ten.
The Big 12 Conference should be one of the best in the nation this season according to Ken Pomeroy’s 2021 rankings. The KenPom rankings rank every college hoops team in the nation based on Adjusted Efficiency Margin and is widely considered one of the best analytics sites out there. Kansas basketball came in ranked No. 5 in the country, while four more Big 12 teams cracked the top ten.
Here are the Big 12 schools that managed to crack the top ten:
- 1. Baylor
- 5. Kansas
- 6. Texas Tech
- 8. West Virginia
- 9. Texas
The fact that half of the Big 12 was in the top ten is really incredible when you realize these rankings encapsulate over 350 teams. You probably already guessed that the Big 12 is also rated as the best conference in college basketball with the Big Ten coming in at No. 2. This could easily be a season where the Big 12 sends seven or eight teams to the NCAA Tournament.
For the Jayhawks, repeating as Big 12 champions is going to be a challenge. Baylor is a legit national title contender that returned nearly its whole roster from last season. West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins says that this roster is the best that the Mountaineers have had in a decade, and Texas Tech will always be in the mix with head coach Chris Beard.
The good news for the Jayhawks is that Bill Self always has Kansas playing good basketball by the time the conference slate rolls around. That’s not to say that the Jayhawks will be facing some challenges.
It’s no secret that Kansas basketball has one of the best homecourt advantages in the nation; however, only 1,500 fans will be allowed inside Allen Fieldhouse. One of the reasons the Jayhawks have had so much success in the Big 12 is because they rarely lose at home, so it’ll be interesting to see if Kansas can continue to dominate at home the way they have in recent years.
This 2021 college basketball season is going to be wild, especially in the Big 12. The Jayhawks will open conference play with a tough three-game stretch where they’ll face Texas Tech, West Virginia, and then Texas. All three of those teams should be very good, so it’ll be imperative that Kansas has all the wrinkles ironed out by that point.