Despite the Jayhawks righting a rapidly sinking ship when they defeated the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Kansas men's basketball team dropped out of the AP Top 25 Poll for the first time since February 2021, over four years ago.
The Jayhawks, who were the No. 1 team in the nation in preseason polls, have fallen to 18-9 overall and currently sit in sixth place in the Big 12. The straw that broke the camel's back though was Kansas' resounding loss to the BYU Cougars.
Kansas had dropped all the way to No. 23 when they visited the Cougars in Provo and then the 34-point defeat that the Jayhawks suffered at the hands of an unranked Brigham Young squad pushed the Jayhawks beyond saving when it came to their national ranking.
A fall from grace, Kansas started the season with a seven-game win streak which included wins over ranked North Carolina and Duke teams. However, after losing consecutive games to unranked Creighton and unranked Missouri, the Jayhawks have been unable to regain their footing.
With just four conference matchups remaining in the regular season, Kansas is clinging to its winning record against Big 12 opponents. However, the Jayhawks have three ranked opponents ahead of them in the No. 10 Texas Tech Red Raiders, the No. 4 Houston Cougars, and the No. 22 Arizona Wildcats
The last time that Kansas fell beyond the Top 25 rankings was just over four years ago when head coach Bill Self and the Jayhawks suffered double-digit losses to the Tennessee Volunteers and the West Virginia Mountaineers. That season, Kansas got knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by the USC Trojans in the second round.
Kansas and Texas Tech are scheduled to tip off at 10 p.m. PT on Monday, Feb. 24 at the CU Events Center in Boulder, CO.