NCAA Basketball: 10 takeaways from Week 3

The Kansas Jayhawks entered the season with slightly tempered expectations. Losing Frank Mason III is a pretty major absence that many elite programs would not be able to bounce back from, but Kansas, being Kansas, was expected to at least remain a top ten team without him.

Instead, the Jayhawks have proven that they are even better than just a top 10 squad, worthy of their No. 2 ranking thanks to a victory over the Kentucky Wildcats and, more impressively, four other wins by at least 30 points. The Jayhawks won their last two games by 43 points each – 43 points!

And while you might argue that these blowout wins were to lesser, mid-major opposition, all four of these teams are solid college basketball programs. Tennessee State is more of a regional “oh no let’s hope we don’t get upset” power, but South Dakota State, Texas Southern, and Oakland are all teams with recent NCAA Tournament appearances.

ESPN’s BPI has this team as the No. 1 team in college basketball (which is ridiculous because, well, Duke), but I do not believe this team is that far behind the Blue Devils.

And, I don’t want to be that guy, but the Big 12 does not look great this season in terms of elite talent. Sure, there are a lot of good teams in the conference that will make a push towards the NCAA Tournament, but Kansas is a class above.