You never know what you’ll get when Kansas basketball takes the court.
The Jayhawks were down 5.5 points at Arizona State on Tuesday night, but you can imagine them running the 11th-ranked Sun Devils off the court in a 25-point blowout…
Kansas has lost three of its last five games, including crushing losses to ranked teams in Iowa State and Arizona and a surprising 84-68 loss to Cincinnati at Allen Fieldhouse. But it’s the Kansas group that covers Texas Tech, Arizona and Houston in ESPN’s weekly conference “Big Monday” time slot.
Twitter was right about “college sports only.”
BetMGM currently lists Kansas as the 9th shortest odds to win the national title (+3000). That’s with the usual caveat of not knowing what the brackets look like, but you can sense there’s some brand name recognition at play there.
I’m not saying the title can’t happen. What I’m saying is, when you make your bracket, be very careful when you hit Kansas.
First, it’s clearly Darryn Peterson’s point of view. I’ve already written about his erratic availability and anyone worried about him making it through a full NCAA Tournament is justified.
But from what I can tell, Peterson is not the cause of the Jayhawks’ current problems. He may shoot more efficiently, but despite his time off, he is still Kansas’ leading scorer in Big 12 play with 19.9 points per game.
Statistically, Kansas has one of the strongest defenses in the country, holding opponents to under 30 percent shooting from 3-point range while ranking third in the nation in block percentage.
One consistent problem for this team has been rebounding, which becomes the biggest throughline between losses to Cincinnati and Arizona.
The Bearcats outgained Kansas on the boards by 11 points, while the Wildcats held a plus-22 differential. Both different teams grabbed 14 offensive rebounds against the Jayhawks.
“I thought we played a really soft game, to be honest,” coach Bill Self said of the Arizona game. “The foul trouble didn’t help, but we still played soft.”
Here’s a look at offensive rebounds: The way they generate extra shot attempts can give any team a chance to win on any given night. If you don’t do well consistently, you will become confused. This gets in the way of a nice, clean single-elimination tournament.
Michigan rebounds the ball very well. Duke is located in Illinois, Arizona, and Florida. Since their opponents’ possessions end up one-on-one, they will be much less affected by the chaos of the early rounds.
Kansas fans should be concerned about where their team stands in the Big 12 standings as we enter the final week of the regular season. Yes, Iowa State lost on Monday night, leaving Kansas in fourth place, but the Jayhawks are dangerously close to a No. 5 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. Missing out on a top four spot means starting the tournament a day early instead of having the luxury of a triple bye.
So there’s one extra game, one more opportunity to lose to a lower-ranked opponent and potentially slip down the seeding line in the NCAA Tournament. 5th place is bad enough in the conference, but going into that dreadful 5-12 matchup in the first round of the Big Dance just requires an underrated team to outscore you on the glass and pull off an upset.
