Kansas Jayhawks NCAA Basketball Betting
There may be only one team in the country that did more work in the portal, at least on paper and when it comes to name recognition, than Kansas. Now it's time to see how all that work will translate on the floor. The Jayhawks argue the No. 1 team in the country, but all you have to do is look at last year's Kansas team to see that the roster in the game program only sometimes equates to success. The portal has turned a weakness of depth into a major strength, and if Kansas can get the new faces to form some chemistry, they might have the perfect formula to cut down the nets.
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When you get dethroned in the conference you've owned for the better part of 20 years, you want to get back on top in a hurry. Even if you return enough talent to compete in the toughest conference in the country, sometimes you go above and beyond to get back on top; just ask Kansas Basketball. For just the 4th time in 21 seasons, Kansas failed to finish atop the Big 12. But, for the first time in those 21 years, last season was the first in which they didn’t finish in the top 3.
"Struggle" is a relative term, but when you’re a program with the pedigree of the Jayhawks, their recent performances in March could be classified as such. They have failed to reach the Sweet Sixteen every year except one since 2019, albeit that one year they did, they took home the national title.
In 2024-25, the Jayhawks are hoping to halt those struggles, and head coach Bill Self did everything he could to help ensure that happens. He lost three players to graduation and another, Johnny Furphy, to the NBA draft. He hit the portal so hard that one player who originally committed to Kansas, Riley Kugel, de-committed and will now attend Mississippi State. Despite the loss, Kansas brings in the 3rd best transfer class in the country, just behind Arkansas and Indiana, according to 247sports. If struggling is relative, then so is rebounding, which Kansas hopes to do this season.
Their December begins with a trip to Omaha to face Creighton in the Big 12/Big East battle. Missouri then awaits the Jayhawks in Columbia before Kansas heads home to take on an N.C. State team fresh off a final-four appearance.
Self certainly isn't solely relying on his conference schedule to make his seeding case in the NCAA tournament. The damage his team can potentially do before the calendar hits 2025 says one thing, "we're eyeing not only a No.1 seed but the top overall seed." With that type of schedule, Kansas would be in the overall No. 1 seed conversation no matter what conference they play in, but playing in the Big 12 when it’s time to talk resumes, they may be at the top of the pile.
The talent is on paper for Kansas to regain its perch atop the Big 12 and beyond. The depth is crazy good, and there isn’t a better set of returning players in the country. Guys like Griffen and Mayo should be able to step into the Johnny Furphy and open things up even more in the frontcourt for Dickinson and Adams, Jr.
The biggest questions for me when it comes to the Jayhawks are, first, how do the embarrassment of portal riches mesh together? Second, it’s can Kansas get some of the guys that are transferring up, like Mayo and Coit, to be some of what they were at their previous stops? It seems as though some of the recent mid-major stars they have brought in have fizzled in comparison to their previous production.
Kansas is an elite brand that continues to draw attention.
Latest NCAA Tournament Results
| YEAR |
RESULT |
| 2024 |
Lost Second Round vs. (5) Gonzaga, 68–89 |
| 2023 |
Lost Second Round vs. (8) Arkansas 71–72 |
| 2022 |
Won National Championship vs. (8) North Carolina, 72–69 |
| 2021 |
Lost Second Round vs. (6) USC, 51–85 |
| 2019 |
Lost Second Round vs. (5) Auburn, 75–89 |
| 2018 |
Lost Final Four vs. (1) Villanova, 79–95 |
| 2017 |
Lost Elite Eight vs. (3) Oregon, 60–74 |
2024-2025 NCAA Basketball Top Teams
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