KU Basketball: CBS Sports Has the Jayhawks Ranked First

The KU basketball team received a big shout out this week as CBS Sports has the Jayhawks ranked number one after two big wins against top-five teams last week.

Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com has the Kansas Jayhawks ranked number one in the country in the CBS Sports Top 25 (and one) poll after wins against West Virginia and Oklahoma last week.

This is even a bigger deal since Parrish still has Oklahoma ranked number two despite their second loss to Kansas, and he has West Virginia slotted at number five. This is very impressive for the Big 12 Conference to have three teams good enough to be in the top five in any poll.

The Jayhawks have had their ups and downs this season, blowing a late lead early in the season to Michigan State, suffering double-digit losses on the road at Oklahoma State and Iowa State, and looking bad at West Virginia.

Two wins against Oklahoma, though, albeit by a total of seven points, has the Jayhawks in a tie with the Mountaineers for the top spot in the Big 12.

These wins aren’t the only reasons Parrish likes the Jayhawks.

"…his Jayhawks now have nine top-50 RPI wins and just one loss outside of the top 25, and they are the nation’s only college basketball team whose resume checks both of those boxes.Nobody has more top-25 RPI wins.Nobody has as many top-50 RPI wins."

The AP and Coaches polls weren’t out at the time of this writing, but it is almost certain Villanova will hold down the top spot in both of those rankings. Both had Villanova ranked number one last week, and the Wildcats did not lose. Tradition will hold, and they should stay at the top of the heap.

Kansas will most likely move up a few spots in both polls from their number sixth ranking a week ago.

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CBS Sports also has Kansas as the number one RPI team. The Jayhawks, who had the toughest schedule in the country in each of the last two seasons, are ranked fourth in RPI and fourth in Strength in Schedule by ESPN.

The scary thing is this KU basketball team probably still hasn’t played its best ball yet. They’ve been uneven in some of their games, including a bad, 19-point dismantling at the hands of the Oklahoma State Cowboys on the road earlier in the season.

Top scorers like Wayne Selden, Jr and Perry Ellis have battled inconsistency at times, and Frank Mason III looks worn out during some games. The Jayhawks aren’t getting much from their backcourt bench players right now, either.

The positives are Landen Lucas has emerged from the log jam for playing time at the front court spot opposite Ellis, and Devonte’ Graham seems to be getting better as the season goes along.

Lucas isn’t much of a scoring threat, but he does a lot of the little things right. His rebounding has improved, and he has suddenly been altering shots in the lane in recent games.

Graham played a brilliant game on both ends of the floor against Oklahoma this past weekend. He held scoring machine Buddy Hield to just five field goals (none in the first half) and outscored Hield, 27-24.

Head Coach Bill Self still isn’t getting consistent production or playing time from his athletic freshmen big men, Cheick Diallo and Carlton Bragg Jr.Both show flashes of what the future will bring, but these two need to find their place on this team.

If these two can take the next step forward in their development over the upcoming weeks, Kansas will be the much stronger team for it.

KU basketball fans are incredibly spoiled, and expectations are always high at Kansas, but this team can still make a run deep into March, and they have to be considered a contender to make the Final Four, and even to win another National Championship.

Next: Ranking the Eight KU Head Coaches

If they can improve their consistency, and some players who haven’t been very productive yet can step up, watch out! This team can be very dangerous during March Madness.

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