Kansas basketball: KenPom has questionable ranking for Jayhawks midway through regular season

Despite losing to unranked UCF on the road last week, Kansas basketball maintained its No. 3 national ranking in the AP Top 25. The Jayhawks hold victories over Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and the recently crowned No. 1 team, UConn.

There have been times that the Jayhawks have struggled, but the general consensus remains that they will be one of the teams to beat come March Madness. That is unless you are using KenPom rankings, an advanced analytics website created by Ken Pomeroy.

On KenPom, Kansas is ranked uncharacteristically low. Look at this tweet for reference.

As of Monday, Jan. 15, Kansas actually dropped a spot on that list. That means KenPom calculates them to be the 18th-best team in the country. Some of those ahead of them include Auburn (No. 4), Alabama (No. 6), Creighton (No. 15), and Michigan State (No. 16). Additionally, there are five schools in the Big 12 who got the nod over KU. Houston, BYU, Iowa State, and Baylor are ranked higher than the Jayhawks in KenPom, respectively.

KenPom bases a good portion of its analytics on offensive and defensive efficiency. If you have watched KU this year, they have been anything but efficient. Turnovers and sloppy play have constantly plagued Bill Self's group in countless games, though we did see the Jayhawks take care of the ball against Oklahoma, setting a program low in a single game with two turnovers.

No credible fan or voter claims Kansas basketball is not a top-10 team, and they will likely receive a top-two seed if they continue to play at this level. The KenPom rankings are based on a formula and will become more reliable as conference play progresses. However, what it does prove is that Kansas has not come close to reaching its peak at this point in the campaign.