NCAA Basketball: Purdue, Duke, fall in latest top 25 power ranking
By Joey Loose
3. Kansas (7-1)
Rarely a season passes where Kansas is not one of the national powers and this certainly looks like another one of those seasons. While the Jayhawks settled for a 3rd place finish at the talented Maui Invitational, they got themselves another standout victory this past week, this time on the mainland.
Before we get into that, there’s the matter of what happened Tuesday night, as the heavily-favored Jayhawks fought to the end with Eastern Illinois, pulling out a 71-63 victory that certainly felt closer than that late. Hunter Dickinson had 25 points and 13 rebounds while Kevin McCullar Jr. added 18 points. Any bad energy from that performance was quickly dispelled on Friday with a 69-65 win against defending champion Connecticut. McCullar led the way with 21 points while K. J. Adams Jr. scored 18 of his own.
Recent outings against Marquette and Eastern Illinois have been concerning, but Kansas has proven that they belong among the top teams in the nation. Dickinson transferred in from Michigan and has fit well into this system, with the Jayhawks coming off their most complete win of the season over the Huskies. Next week will see them stay in Lawrence for very winnable games against Kansas City and Missouri.