NCAA Basketball: UConn, Iowa State, Auburn rise in latest top 25 power rankings
By Joey Loose
16. Kansas (22-10)
This has clearly been a less than ideal season in Lawrence. Despite the preseason expectations and immense talent that Bill Self assembled, this Kansas squad just hasn’t been the same dominant team we’ve been used to in recent years. They dropped several winnable games in Big 12 play, yet have looked really great at other times this season, especially in wins over UConn and Houston.
What’s unfortunate for the Jayhawks is how their postseason started, as they played in the Big 12 Tournament without Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr. Lacking those two important players, the Jayhawks lost 72-52 in their opening game to Cincinnati. K. J. Adams Jr. tried to carry the load with 22 points but the 6-seeded Jayhawks were just missing too much and lost their second consecutive game.
When those two players are back in the lineup, Kansas is clearly a different team. The one thing about this team is that they clearly have a smaller margin for error than in recent seasons. The Jayhawks have the talent to beat pretty much any team in the nation, but can they string that together night after night and make another deep run? Some of these recent performances, even with Dickinson and McCullar, say otherwise.