The 2024-25 campaign has been far from ideal for the Kansas basketball program. Bill Self’s squad has underwhelmed Jayhawk fans for the second straight year and is on pace to be one of the worst KU teams in the 21st century.
Despite entering the season ranked atop the nation again, not much has changed in Lawrence. The Jayhawks look poised for another early exit in March if they cannot right the ship in the coming weeks. In CBS Sports' most recent college basketball rankings by Gary Parrish, KU has hit rock bottom, landing at No. 25 overall.
How did Kansas basketball manage to fall off this hard?
The vibes are dwindling every week for KU. In addition to being out of the Big 12 title race, the Jayhawks lost to K-State in Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday for the third consecutive year. Kansas has now fallen to its in-state rival and Mizzou in a matter of a few months.
The outcome of this season would look a lot different had the Jayhawks not choked away winnable games against quality opponents Houston and Baylor. Against the Cougars, KU’s inability to throw an inbound pass or hit a clutch free throw led to the sport's most improbable implosion in 15 years. Meanwhile, the Bears somehow overcame a 21-point deficit in Waco, which turned out to be the biggest blown lead in program history.
Kansas still has a few impressive victories in the past month and a half, beating Iowa State at home and convincingly taking down UCF and TCU on the road. Still, for a team that defeated Duke, Michigan State, and a North Carolina squad ranked in the top 10 at the time, conference play has been nothing short of a disaster for the crimson and blue.
Self and Co. still sit at No. 17 in the AP Top 25 and 11th in NET rankings, so they should enter March Madness with a relatively favorable seeding barring an end-of-season collapse. Regardless, Parrish's lack of belief in Kansas turning it around is further proof that many college basketball fanatics are out on the Jayhawks this season.