Under Bill Self, the Kansas Jayhawks have never entered the NCAA Tournament ranked below the 7th seed, and that only happened once during the 2024-25 season.
For context, Self has led KU to a No. 1 seed 10 separate times over 23 seasons, the epitome of consistency.
Now, since the Jayhawks lifted the 2022 National title, of course there has been a drop-off. The Jayhawks haven’t won more than one game in the following four NCAA Tournaments and have been knocked off their Big 12 perch by the likes of Houston, Iowa State and Arizona, each having their moment in the sun.
Last season’s debacle, which ended in a 67-65 loss at the hands of St. John’s, doesn’t help things, especially considering the season-long drama around Darryn Peterson, along with the flux of the NCAA Transfer Portal exits.
However, the 2026 team is supposed to be different
While last season saw the Jayhawks struggle to find the right mesh between 5-star Darryn Peterson and his cohorts, Self made it an emphasis to change that this season with the addition of Leroy Blyden Jr. and Taylen Kinney possibly moving to a combo guard setup that allows a trio of Blyden, Kinney and 5-star freshman Tyran Stokes to take the ball up.
In the frontcourt, the Jayhawks also added proven Big 12 quality in Keanu Dawes and center Christian Reeves, who will be battling it out with sophomore Paul Mbiya for the starting spot when he gets healthy from shoulder surgery.
The likes of Dennis Parker Jr. the emergence of freshman guard Luke Barnett, and natural improvements of Kohl Rosario are all also set to help pick the team up from the bench.
Despite all this, On3’s latest “way too early” bracket projections sink the Jayhawks to the 6th seed of the South Region.
Of this hypothetical setup, the Jayhawks would take on and beat either No. 11 Oklahoma or Villanova, before crashing out once against the No. 3 Louisville Cardinals, who have the seed advantage over the Jayhawks.
What would it take for this to happen?
While there is no doubting the talent on this roster, there is a lot of doubt about the experience; the Jayhawks will have just one player with valuable Big 12 experience in Keanu Dawes, and even Dawes has only one year as a starter in the conference. A seed line this low, must mean that Kansas simply loses steam in conference play. Nine of the 14 players on Kansas’ roster right now are underclassmen.
Of the five upperclassmen, Mbiya has only played one season; Reeves earned minutes off the bench at both Duke and Clemson, but his only starting season came for the College of Charleston last season. Will Thengvall is a depth piece. Parker has two years at NC State, but really made an impact last season at VCU.
Kansas’ roster is still in the process of being rebuilt, and there is still a chance KU brings in more talent in the embers of the offseason, but in today’s era, nothing is guaranteed.
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