It has been an up-and-down season so far for the Kansas basketball team. After entering the campaign ranked No. 1 for the second consecutive year, the Jayhawks got off to a hot start with marquee victories over North Carolina, Michigan State, and Duke. Bill Self seemed to have solved some of the resounding issues that plagued the 2023-24 KU squad.
Unfortunately, many of those problems persisted in the ensuing games. Kansas lost back-to-back road games at Creighton and Missouri earlier this month, stripping the Jayhawks of the nation's top ranking. Those defeats made it clear that many things must be solved before conference play arrives.
Kansas basketball has slightly underperformed heading into Big 12 play
Metrics are difficult to examine in a limited sample size, especially given some of the opponents Kansas has faced. Tune-up games against Howard, Oakland, Furman, and others inflate statistics significantly. Even so, the offense has not been nearly as potent as many expected it to be heading into the year.
The Jayhawks' offensive rating across 11 contests is 118.3. While that number would be elite throughout an entire season, it isn't great when they've played a handful of buy games. It ranks 26th in the nation, which hardly makes the team look like a championship contender. Again, metrics this early in the season should be taken with a grain of salt, but these indicate a concerning theme.
Last year, Kansas finished 59th nationally in offensive rating at 113.5. Taking into account that six of college basketball's 20 best defenses reside in the Big 12, it would be fair to assume the Jayhawks will dip closer to that number with the next 20 games coming against conference opponents.
If you're wondering how important offensive rating is, the answer is very. Each of the past nine NCAA champions has finished top 10 in offensive rating, including the Jayhawks' 2021-22 squad. More encouraging is the defensive rating, which ranks eighth in the country, but that is still bound to change when facing more difficult schools.
Entering conference play, Kansas ranks in the bottom 5th percentile in 3-point shots attempted at a 35.4% clip. We've outlined how important KU's outside shooting will be down the stretch in previous articles, so we don't mean to beat a dead horse — still, we can't overstate the importance of taking (and making) more 3-point shots in today's game.
The offense has hit dry spells in multiple games, particularly in the pair of road matchups. Running two non-shooters in the lineup together with Dajuan Harris and KJ Adams certainly doesn't help KU's fortunes. The season is still young, but the Jayhawks have not proven they are serious title contenders yet.