With some expierence returning as well as landing the best recruiting class and possibly the best transfer in the country, this is one of Kansas’s most dominant teams and will more than likely be heading back to the Final 4, looking for a National Championship. The top 4 scoring threats are gone, but that doesn’t mean the talents not there. The dominant, shotblocking Udoka Azubuike returns for his junior year after 13 PPG and 7 rebounds from a year ago. Devonte Graham is gone so the ballhandling duties will more than likely go to Marcus Garrett who will have to step up his offensive production this year as the Jayhawks have had back to back years of amazing Point Guard play of Graham and Frank Mason. Legerald Vick returns as he’ll be the shooting threat on the outside as well as Mitch Lightfoot coming off the bench. A huge impact transfer is 6-9 Dedric Lawson who was a star at Memphis, then decided to join his brother KJ in Lawrence. Nearly averaging a double-double both years at Memphis, he had 19.2 PPG and and 9.9 RPG on 2 blocks per game his sophomore year before transferring. Another transfer coming in is Charlie Moore, who is expected to compete with incoming freshman, Devon Dotson to replace Graham. The combo of Lawson and Azubuike will be scary for any team to go against and the scariest duo outside of Zion Williamson and R.J Barrett. With 5 stars like Quentin Grimes and Devon Dotson joining the program as well as top 50 recruit David McCormack’ it’s going to be hard to find a lot of playing time for a lot of players, but having the 5th best recruiting class in the nation helps the depth issues Kansas had a year ago. With the depth not being a huge issue and an overflowing amount of talent and length, Kansas should head into conference, take care of business, and win the Big 12 Championship for an absolutely amazing 15h year in a row.
Notable Non-Conference Games:
November, 6th- vs. Michigan State (State Farm Champions Classic)
November, 21st- Marquette (NIT Season Tip-Off)
November, 23rd- Louisville/Tennessee (NIT Season Tip-Off)
December, 15th- vs. Villanova
December, 22nd- at. Arizona State
January, 26th- at. Kentucky (Big 12/SEC Challenge)
As usual, Kansas has one of the toughest schedules in the country, but a schedule they are capable of winning all of them. With 3 bluebloods, NIT tournament, and looking for revenge in Tempe, Kansas should be tested early and often. Michigan State will be the normal 4 teams playing in the Champions Classic, with Duke playing Kentucky. It will be interesting how good Villanova will be without 2 time First-Team All-American and one of the best in Jalen Brunson as well as National Champion hero Donte Divincenzo. Kansas will be making the trip to Tempe looking for revenge against Arizona State after dropping the contest last year and had Kansas losing back to back home games, which is very rare.
Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Devon Dotson (Fr.)
SG: LeGerald Vick (Sr.)
SF: K.J Lawson (Jr.)
PF: Dedric Lawson (Jr.)
C: Udoke Azubuike (Jr.)
Projected Finish: NCAA Tournament, National Runner-Up
