Kansas Basketball: Ranking the last 29 NCAA Tournament teams

19. 2000-01 (26-7) (12-4 Big 12)

Head coach Roy Williams is coming off a second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament and with sophomores Drew Gooden, Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich and senior Kenny Gregory, the bar was set a bit higher in 2000-01.

The Jayhawks entered the preseason as the No. 7 team in the AP Poll and climbed into the Top 5, entering the year 7-0. They lost on the road to a No. 11 Wake Forest Demon Deacons squad, but won another 10-straight games before running into some trouble in Big 12 play. They lost four of six contests before winning their final four regular season conference games.

Kansas finished 12-4 in league play, second in the standings. This marked the first time the Jayhawks didn’t win the regular season crown in consecutive seasons. The Iowa State Cyclones won the regular season title, while the Oklahoma Sooners would go onto win the conference tournament championship.

The Jayhawks’ early exit in the conference tournament earned them a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Despite their low seeding, they opened with a 99-75 victory over the Cal State Northridge Matadors. Gooden, Collison and Gregory combined for 62 points in the victory.

In the second round, they did away with the No. 5 seed Syracuse Orangemen with relative ease, 87-58. Gooden, Hinrich and Gregory combined for 42 points in this one to balance the scoring attack.

Kansas would go onto lose in the Sweet 16 against the No. 1-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini. They beat the Jayhawks 80-64 thanks to 30 points from Big Ten Player of the Year Frank Williams. Kansas made it one round further than the previous season, but it marked a rare moment that saw them make it no further than the Sweet 16.