The Kansas Jayhawks are incredibly successful and incredibly frustrating at the same time. The Jayhawks are a team which has won 13 straight Big 12 regular season championships, one of the great achievements in modern college basketball history. Kansas simply does not have bad regular seasons. The Jayhawks always reach a high level during the regular season and always throw a party in the first week of March, once they have clinched the championship of their conference.
Yet, a team that good and that prosperous should generally make the Final Four more than twice in those 13 seasons, given all the top seeds or No. 2 seeds the Jayhawks have earned in the NCAA Tournament. The fact that Kansas has made only two trips to the Final Four since 2003 is one of the more improbable stories in college basketball – not because making the Final Four is hard, but because a 13-time champion in one of the country’s toughest conferences hasn’t been able to carry its regular season performances into March Madness.
Offseason Changes
Frank Mason and Josh Jackson are gone, but transfer Malik Newman comes in from Mississippi State, freshman Billy Preston arrives as a new and heralded recruit, and the Lawson brothers, Dedric and K.J., come from Memphis. The Jayhawks lost a lot – Jackson could be an NBA star, and Mason was the team’s long-term rock at point guard – but they clearly have ample reinforcements coming back. Coach Bill Self is excellent in hitting the transfer market and looking for new players. He keeps replenishing the supply of highly coveted basketball stars in Lawrence. The big roster hole this season is either point guard or backup center, but all the other pieces are there, plus an adequate amount of depth.
Will Succeed If…
The Jayhawks can get to the free throw line and to the rim in big games, so that they don’t rely on jump shots and go cold on offense, which has always been the problem in the NCAA Tournament. Kansas played the Elite Eight game last year in Kansas City against Oregon. The Jayhawks had a partisan crowd behind them. They did not have to travel very long or far.
The team should have been comfortable and relaxed, but for some reason, it got tight, and when a team is nervous, it misses a lot of jump shots. Confident teams get to the rim so that they don’t have to worry about jump shots if they don’t fall in the early minutes of a game. Kansas needs the mentality of a team which will get the easiest shots possible, because the Jayhawks have been historically unreliable at shooting jumpers in big games in March.
Won’t Succeed If…
The Jayhawks don’t get the same defensive commitment as they received from last year’s group, and if injured big man Udoka Azubuike fails to rebound from his interrupted 2016-2017 season. The Azubuike injury limited Kansas’ interior scoring options and influenced the team’s overreliance on jump shooting last March. If Azubuike is in good shape, Kansas should be in very good shape. If not, the Jayhawks will be susceptible to foul trouble among their active big men and could get into a very difficult spot in the NCAA Tournament if forced to play an opponent with an elite center.
Roster
Marcus Garrett
Dedric Lawson
Lagerald Vick
Sam Cunliffe
Devonte’ Graham
Charlie Moore
Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk
Chris Teahan
K.J. Lawson
Malik Newman
Clay Young
Billy Preston
Udoka Azubuike
Mitch Lightfoot
Outlook
The Jayhawks will have a number of tough tests early on this season, including a matchup against Kentucky on November 14th. The good news is that’s a neutral-site affair. They’ll also have some challenging games against Syracuse and Washington – also on neutral-sites – and they’ll host Arizona State.
The Jayhawks are the best team in the Big 12 until proven otherwise. That is something which can be trusted. Their March record cannot. Devonte Graham will lead this team back to the Big 12 title with help from Svi Mykhailiuk and others, but Kansas has to prove it is worthy of the Final Four.
The 2018 March Madness futures are out. There has been plenty of news to keep up with in the offseason but keep an eye on the betting lines as they move around at Diamond Sportsbook! Get the latest college basketball betting lines right here.
