It's not the best conference but anything can happen

Utah beats Kansas 74-67

#Kansas fans are down bad. #FireEverybody pic.twitter.com/TcKaSO2Ed3

— Message Board Geniuses (@BoardGeniuses) February 16, 2025

Kansas is a very average squad. They've proved it for 2 months now.

Will they still be ranked though?

Yes. Should they be? No

They have 3 of the best wins of anyone in Duke.. Michigan St..and Iowa State..so yeah they're not going to plummet from a Top 16 seed to out of the poll.

Kansas not one of the 25 top teams in America?

They have 8 losses now. Tied for the most in the polls. It's incredibly reasonable to suggest the name of the front of their jersey is what's keeping them in the polls at this point. The version of KU that beat Duke isn't the version of KU we've seen the better part of 1.5 months. And no I don't think they're 1 of the 25 best teams in the country right now.

Kansas is now 3-6 in true road games this season.

At home, the Jayhawks rank No. 18 in offensive efficiency at https://t.co/bDtv5XbKx9.

In road games, they rank No. 190 in offensive efficiency.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) February 16, 2025

Cream is rising to to the top...and KU and BU aren't there

Ok.. fair enough..I just think sometimes we suffer from recency bias.

Is this the Kansas we're used to seeing battling for a top 2 seed in late February? Of course not..

But they're better than all the teams that are outside the poll receiving votes like UCLA.. Louisville.. Illinois..or St Mary's..and in addition they're resume is still a LOT better than all those teams so not sure how they can't be considered Top 25..

I mean a lot of the teams below them are struggling or have lost recently so someone has to be in there.

I'm not disputing their resume. Self loads up in the non yearly and typically has tremendous success out of conference. I just dont think the current version of KU is very good. That could change. KU could easily catch fire. Self is one hell of a coach.

Self is similar to Drew right now. Nothing materially wrong with the coaching. They both have roster construction issues as they continue to learn to adapt to the new world of the transfer portal and NIL in college basketball. You can see the impact all over college basketball. Some coaches and programs have adapted to the new world a littler faster and better than others. Self and Drew will both get there. They're highly intelligent coaches.

Take someone like AJ Storr, who has been a complete bust at KU compared to what he was at Wisconsin. Storr played in a system and position at Wisconsin that let him free lance. It allowed him to zone in and out mentally and still be a solid performer. KU's offense is not built that way. Self's system requires you to be 100% focused all the time, be in your spot, cut at the right time or rotate to the next spot. It was a bad match from the onset. He's looked zoned out all year and his stats show it.

I'm sure Self and his staff spotted it and were even concerned about it before they signed him. But, the pressure is there from his rabid fanbase to sign guys at the top of the portal rankings just like KU always has in HS recruiting and I think some coaches may be falling into a trap of being pressured into high profile signings instead of players who meet their roster construction needs. A guy like Otzelberger has done a better job at adapting to the new world and identifying transfers that fit roles he has identified for them rather than transfer portal ranking.

The league just isn't that good

Kansas getting mediocre (for them) when suddenly everyone can do with reckless abandon what Kansas did to be Kansas pre current Kansas

Oh the irony

When everyone can buy a team, what sets Kansas apart, anything?

I mean, not to be rude, but ya, they have a lot more to offer than most schools. This is just ignorant. They have a tradition that only 3-4 or teams can match. Have you ever been to Lawerence for a basketball game? I have been to most of the blue blood venues and nothing is even close to Allen. It is arguably the best venue in sports period, not just college basketball. One could argue that the playing field levels out with NIL, transfer portal, etc. But to claim they have nothing more to offer than other schools in hoops is just crazy. They literally have the rules of basketball in their home venue. That might not mean much to the casual fan, but for those of us that consume basketball that's pretty freaking cool.

I still can't believe we lost at home to TCU. Just terrible...

That game is was keeping us from being a lock for the dance to date. Just a maddening unacceptable loss

True Grit said:

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I still can't believe we lost at home to TCU. Just terrible...

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Beating AZ at home tonight would be a great way to cancel that one out. Not predicting that's what's going to happen - just pointing out if it did the bad home loss to TCU doesn't hurt near as much.

Yep...this deep in conference.. everyone has had a '***' loss or two..

Even Houston is saying how did we lose a home game to Tech minus their best player and head coach.

TXBEAR_bf said:

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I mean, not to be rude, but ya, they have a lot more to offer than most schools. This is just ignorant. They have a tradition that only 3-4 or teams can match. Have you ever been to Lawerence for a basketball game? I have been to most of the blue blood venues and nothing is even close to Allen. It is arguably the best venue in sports period, not just college basketball. One could argue that the playing field levels out with NIL, transfer portal, etc. But to claim they have nothing more to offer than other schools in hoops is just crazy. They literally have the rules of basketball in their home venue. That might not mean much to the casual fan, but for those of us that consume basketball that's pretty freaking cool.

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When it comes to W/L, how many points are attributed to those rules being posted.

They have a big home court advantage from the atmosphere. Recent history matters but the old stuff, the tradition, it matters little to these kids having money thrown at them from dozens of programs.

Stefano DiMera said:

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Yep...this deep in conference.. everyone has had a '***' loss or two..

Even Houston is saying how did we lose a home game to Tech minus their best player and head coach.

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Yep. Most schools have at least 1 "how did that happen" loss and 1 "we weren't supposed to win, but we did" game. Happens in every conference. UConn is still asking itself this morning, how the hell did we lose to Seton Hall?

All coaches are figuring it out on the fly. But I think Drew and Self are still struggling to put the types of rosters they are used to in this NIL transfer portal world.

Interesting way to look at it...from an ISU fan of course

The Big 12 men's basketball season is still a couple of weeks from wrapping up, but we have a fairly clear picture of the standings and how programs have stacked up in the first year of the 16-team league.

Here's a visual of where programs ended up in combined FB/MBB standings: pic.twitter.com/ECkYAkGzKl

— Alex Gookin (@_AlexGookin) February 17, 2025

This is not even a joke. https://t.co/ZzXonpjGDm has rankings for date ranges, and the data is insane. Kansas State's ranks:

Nov 4 to Jan 22 (7-11): #97
Jan 23 to Feb 11 (6-0): #1
Feb 12 to today (0-2): #142 https://t.co/ix7O05MvW0

— Alex Gookin (@_AlexGookin) February 18, 2025

boognish_bear said:

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This is not even a joke. https://t.co/ZzXonpjGDm has rankings for date ranges, and the data is insane. Kansas State's ranks:

Nov 4 to Jan 22 (7-11): #97
Jan 23 to Feb 11 (6-0): #1
Feb 12 to today (0-2): #142 https://t.co/ix7O05MvW0

— Alex Gookin (@_AlexGookin) February 18, 2025

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It appears that the shelf life of a Scott Drew motivational speech is no more than 6 games long.

Well....TCU has jumped on TT in the first half. If the Frogs pull off the upset they will be tied with us in the conference standings.

TT 28
TCU 36

XII basketball turning into XII football LOL.

Kansas was the Preseason No. 1 team in the country.

The Jayhawks lost by 34 points last night at BYU, and are now 8-7 in Big 12 play - which is tied with Baylor and TCU for sixth in the league.

Kansas is likely now in the 6-7 seed range for the NCAA tourney with a couple of…

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 19, 2025

boognish_bear said:

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Kansas was the Preseason No. 1 team in the country.

The Jayhawks lost by 34 points last night at BYU, and are now 8-7 in Big 12 play - which is tied with Baylor and TCU for sixth in the league.

Kansas is likely now in the 6-7 seed range for the NCAA tourney with a couple of…

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 19, 2025

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ESPN's Bubble Watch as of this morning has the following likelihoods of making the tournament:

100%: UH/IowaSt/Arizona/Tech

99%: KU (no doubt 40% based on play, 59% based on name on front of jersey)

93%: BU

82%: BYU

64%: WV

29%: Cincy

7%: KSt/TCU

whitetrash said:

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boognish_bear said:

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Kansas was the Preseason No. 1 team in the country.

The Jayhawks lost by 34 points last night at BYU, and are now 8-7 in Big 12 play - which is tied with Baylor and TCU for sixth in the league.

Kansas is likely now in the 6-7 seed range for the NCAA tourney with a couple of…

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 19, 2025

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ESPN's Bubble Watch as of this morning has the following likelihoods of making the tournament:

100%: UH/IowaSt/Arizona/Tech

99%: KU (no doubt 40% based on play, 59% based on name on front of jersey)

93%: BU

82%: BYU

64%: WV

29%: Cincy

7%: KSt/TCU

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I'm not feeling 93% confident right now. Let's see how we look at Cincy next Tuesday.

Before last season, Kansas had never lost more than six conference games under Bill Self (since 2003-04).

Tonight’s 34-point loss to BYU marks their seventh of the season, making it back-to-back years with 7+ conference losses for the Jayhawks. pic.twitter.com/wwzXiOIdAz

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) February 19, 2025

boognish_bear said:

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whitetrash said:

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boognish_bear said:

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Kansas was the Preseason No. 1 team in the country.

The Jayhawks lost by 34 points last night at BYU, and are now 8-7 in Big 12 play - which is tied with Baylor and TCU for sixth in the league.

Kansas is likely now in the 6-7 seed range for the NCAA tourney with a couple of…

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 19, 2025

---

ESPN's Bubble Watch as of this morning has the following likelihoods of making the tournament:

100%: UH/IowaSt/Arizona/Tech

99%: KU (no doubt 40% based on play, 59% based on name on front of jersey)

93%: BU

82%: BYU

64%: WV

29%: Cincy

7%: KSt/TCU

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I'm not feeling 93% confident right now. Let's see how we look at Cincy next Tuesday.

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One at a time. Let's get past Colorado first.

Got to tip your hat to houston… They have proven themselves

Houston since joining the Big 12:

#1 In total wins
Highest win% in College Basketball (85.7%)
30-1 Home record (#2)
15-3 Away record (#2 in win%)
31 B12 wins (#1 in conf)

The Big 12 runs through Houston. pic.twitter.com/V3co4cbl2s

— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) February 19, 2025