NCAA Basketball Power Rankings: Illinois rises, Dayton keeps impressing

Kansas defended its home-court this week with back-to-back wins over Kansas State and Tennessee. As a result, the Jayhawks remain in my No. 3 spot and belong as one of the favorites to win the Big 12. They hold a 16-3 (5-1 B12) record for the season and their win over the Volunteers is one that I think will age well in the coming two months. With that said, though, the brawl at the end of the KU-KState game took over college basketball headlines throughout most of the week.

With regard to the aftermath for the Jayhawks, two players were suspended: Silvio De Sousa (12 games) and David McCormack (two games).

On the whole, Kansas should be just fine moving forward. Head coach Bill Self played just a seven-man rotation (basically all he had to work with) against Tennessee but thankfully the top-level talent on this roster is still intact following the suspensions and is enough to keep performing at a very high level. McCormack will also return to the rotation quite soon to add another piece.

I do want to highlight the play of Christian Braun off the bench as of late, though, as a key piece of the puzzle for Kansas. The freshman wing has been a relatively unknown but steady reserve for the Jayhawks all year but posted 20 points on 6-for-10 from three in the win over K-State. He is up to 41.9% shooting from three on the season and has scored in 10 of KU’s last 11 games.

It is also worth monitoring if freshman forward Jalen Wilson could return and receive some playing time as the season continues. He broke his left ankle during the first week of the season.