14. Kansas (9-3)
Considering what they added with the Transfer Portal, Kansas was certainly sitting pretty this season and they showed that in November. A successful first month featured wins over Duke, Michigan State, and North Carolina but was followed up by a few December missteps. The Jayhawks are a talented team with a few flaws but still a team with the talent to win the Big 12.
Unfortunately for these Jayhawks, they were in for an immensely rude awakening to the start of conference play. Kansas hosted West Virginia back on Tuesday night and faltered 62-61, getting a shocking home defeat in the league opener. Zeke Mayo continues to prove his worth with a 27-point performance but few others really showed up on a poor-shooting night in Lawrence.
Hunter Dickinson added another double-double, but outside of those two players there wasn’t a lot to cheer about this week. The Jayhawks didn’t give those NIL deals to Rylan Griffen or AJ Storr for them to have virtually zero impact. This team needs a lot more out of the entire roster, though it’s clear that Mayo has been one of the best offseason additions in this league. The next seven days sees three more league games, including road tests at UCF and Cincinnati coming up.