The Athletic's Brendan Marks (subscription required) took on the daunting task of ranking each great college basketball team since 2000. The Jayhawks made some splashes throughout the list,
No. 25 Kansas 2019-20
This was a fan favorite Kansas team of recent memory. When you think of "What if" teams, this one has to be up there for Jayhawk fans. This was a squad loaded with imressive stats. To start, a 28-3 record prior to the season's cancellation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Combine that with the fact that the Jayhawks marked a 48.4% from the field which ranked 9th-best in the nation, along with the second-best amount of losses in the nation (3).
In that shortened season, Kansas posed the 11th-best defense in the land as the 1882 points that Bill Self's squad gave up helped drive a stout defense.
Kansas was in the midst of a 16-game winning streak, which has included a 64-61 win over the No. 1 Baylor in what was one of the final games of that season.
Now, maybe when you look at a majority of stats, there aren't many that will jump out as "fantastic" but one really sticks out.
Stat website Sports Reference measure strength of schedule, by this description.
"The rating is denominated in points above/below average, where zero is average. Non-Division I games are excluded from the ratings."
Kansas ranked the hardest SOS with an 11.63, was the only team with 25+ wins up until Baylor who ranked 32nd with a 9.13 SOS.
Leading the team was Devin Dotson with 18 points per game Udoka Azubuike followed up with 13.7 points per night.
6. Kansas 2007-08
Self's fifth year at the helm of the Jayhawks ranks as his most wins as Kansas totaled 37 wins to just three losses.
A 20-game win streak launched the season for this special squad, which was halted by a 4-3 stretch before Self and Co. saw a 13-game win streak go off en route to a Kansas National Championship in that thrilling 75-68 OT win against a Memphis team marshaled by John Calipari and the high-flying Derrick Rose.
In the Final Four, Kansas beat up North Carolina by 18 points in a game that featured five future NBA Tar Heels in Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Danny Green, Ty Lawson, and Alex Stepheson.
Seven different Kansas players went on from that team to join the NBA, the likes of Darrell Arthur, Brandon Rush, Mario Chalmers, Darnell Jackson, Sherron Collins, Sasha Kaun, and Cole Aldrich
Self's team averaged 80.5 points per game, which ranked 13th in the nation, while also holding firm with a defense 21st-best which allowed just 61.5 points per game.
The leading scorer on that team was Brandon rush, who returned 13.3 points per game, three more Jayhawks kept over 10 points per game during that championship-winning season.