If you're a real college basketball fan, then you're more than likely waiting anxiously for any news or content about the upcoming season. With the shocking news of Auburn's Bruce Pearl announcing his retirement yesterday, it's starting to feel like we're getting to that time of year again. We are now less than six weeks away from opening night, and the Big 12 has finally opted to release the much-anticipated conference schedule for the 2025-26 season.
Before today, we already knew who our opponents would be and where the games would be played, but nobody was sure when these games would take place, until now.
KU has yet another year of being compelled to endure a daunting non-conference slate, and this one might be the toughest to date. Some of the most notable games in the first half of the season will be against UNC, Duke, and UConn, but other contests like Syracuse, Notre Dame, and Missouri won't be a walk in the park either.
Once we get to January is where the real heart of this Kansas schedule truly begins. Each Big 12 school will play a home-and-home with three other conference opponents, and face off against the remaining twelve teams only once (six on the road, six at home), for a total of eighteen games.
The three schools that the Jayhawks will get to play twice (home and away) are: Arizona, Iowa State, and Kansas State. The six teams that KU will host and not travel to this season are: TCU (Tue. 1/6), Baylor (Fri. 1/16), BYU (Sat. 1/31), Cincinnati (Sat. 2/21), Houston (Mon. 2/23), and Utah (Sat. 2/7). The six opponents that Kansas will travel to and only play on the road this year are: UCF (Sat. 1/3), West Virginia (Sat. 1/10), Colorado (Tue. 1/20), Texas Tech (Mon. 2/2), Oklahoma State (Wed. 2/18), and Arizona State (Tue. 3/3).
KU kicks off conference play in Orlando on Saturday, January 3rd, to take on the UCF Knights. They will then eventually conclude the regular season at home on senior night for the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday, March 7th.
After a two-season hiatus, Bill Self is seeking to get his squad back atop the Big 12 standings. Similar to the way it has been recently, getting his team there will be anything but easy. Nonetheless, with the freshman phenom Darryn Peterson at the helm of the offense, KU looks fairly well-positioned to make a run for the conference crown, and possibly another national title.
Now that the dates are set, Jayhawk fans can make arrangements for which games they'll want to attend. More tickets are going to start selling, and the hype behind this year's group is only going to grow from here. Football season may be going strong, but with more and more news breaking every day, it is apparent that the new season on the hardwood is much closer than it may appear.