NCAA Basketball: North Carolina the worst preseason No. 1 team of all time

10. 2018-19 Kansas

Since arriving at Kansas in 2003, Bill Self has had significant success in leading this Jayhawks program. He’s now won a pair of national titles and Kansas has clearly been the best program in the Big 12, one of the best conferences in the nation. Going back a few seasons, expectations were sky-high for a Jayhawks team that made the Final Four in 2018 and was getting back a few unexpected stars who chose to return for another season in Lawrence.

All-Big 12 players Lagerald Vick (14.1 points per game) and Udoka Azubuike (13.4 points, 6.8 rebounds per game) returned, though they both missed significant time during the season. Junior forward Dedric Lawson (19.4 points, 10.3 rebounds per game) had a breakout campaign to lead the Jayhawks, while freshman guards like Devon Dotson (12.3 points per game), Quentin Grimes, and Ochai Agbaji (who would all play in the NBA), were prominent parts of Self’s rotation.

Injuries really hampered Kansas’s season. After a 10-0 start, the Jayhawks hit a rough stretch in late January that seemed to carry over for the rest of the year. They’d finish 12-6 in conference play, but it was the 1st time in 15 years that they did not win the Big 12 regular season title. After falling short in the Big 12 title game, the Jayhawks settled for a 4-seed in the Tourney.

After a drama-free win over 13-seed Northeastern, they saw their season end in the opening weekend with a loss to 5-seed Auburn. Azubuike and Vick were not available during that Tourney run and a season of high expectations failed to meet the mark.