Kansas basketball: Where Jayhawks rank in annual KenPom preseason rankings
The annual KenPom preseason rankings have been released. Find out where Kansas basketball finished on the list.
Ken Pomeroy has been one of the most respected college basketball analysts for the past 20+ years. He created the renowned analytics website KenPom in 2002, which is a vast database filled with a plethora of metrics regarding basketball. It has become so widespread that its rankings influence AP Poll voting and NCAA Tournament seeding.
Although it is not the most precise formula — much of it is determined by offensive and defensive efficiency — his rankings are often better than those that the actual voters put out. His inaugural rankings for the 2023-24 season were released recently, and the Kansas Jayhawks are actually not the top team in his 362-school list. Here is the top 25 in KenPom’s preseason ratings.
- Purdue basketball
- Kansas basketball
- Houston basketball
- UConn basketball
- Gonzaga basketball
- Arizona basketball
- Baylor basketball
- Tennessee basketball
- Duke basketball
- Alabama basketball
- Marquette basketball
- Creighton basketball
- Michigan State basketball
- Arkansas basketball
- Auburn basketball
- Texas basketball
- North Carolina basketball
- Kentucky basketball
- Illinois basketball
- Wisconsin basketball
- USC basketball
- Maryland basketball
- Villanova basketball
- Texas A&M basketball
- Kansas State basketball
Kansas basketball lands second on KenPom preseason rankings
Although many consider the Jayhawks to be the favorites in March Madness headed into the year, Purdue notched the top spot. Big 12 newcomer Houston slots right behind KU, and Baylor, Texas, and K-State are the other conference opponents.
The additions of Hunter Dickinson and returns of starters Dajuan Harris, Kevin McCullar, and KJ Adams make Kansas one of the most menacing rosters in the country. There is still a strong possibility that KU gets voted No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25.
With KenPom, there are so many factors that need to be taken into account. His preseason rankings are far different than the ones you typically see during the middle of the season. He has a certain formula that calculates success through other preseason lists, the quality of returning players, recruiting rankings of freshmen, and how well that team has fared in his rankings in past years. Therefore, this should be taken with a grain of salt, and Kansas basketball could very well vault to No. 1 at some point in the year.
Next. Predicting KU's starting 5 and key bench players. dark