10. Kansas (12-3)
One week ago, the Jayhawks weren’t in a great position. Despite some great performances back in November, they lost a few nonconference road games and then dropped a head scratcher at home against West Virginia to kick off Big 12 play. Fortunately, Bill Self’s program found another gear this past week, nabbing three impressive wins in the last seven days.
They responded well last Sunday after that loss, trucking UCF in a 99-48 road win in Orlando, led by Hunter Dickinson’s 27-point, 9-rebound effort. Despite trailing at the half on Wednesday, a strong second period helped get Kansas to a 74-55 win against Arizona State. Zeke Mayo stood out this time with 23 points. The Jayhawks had another great road effort on Saturday, building a 54-40 road win against Cincinnati despite again trailing at the half; with another double-double from Dickinson.
Three double-digit wins gets Kansas back on track and shoots them back up the Big 12 standings. Some strong second half performances have the Jayhawks back in fighting shape, though there’s still plenty of work ahead for this program. Dickinson and Mayo have played great, but the other talent on this roster has to play better, especially after the Jayhawks made just 9% of their 3-pointers in that win in Cincinnati. As a reward for their efforts, this team gets a rough trip to Iowa State this week.