Big 12: Kansas Jayhawks Back Among College Basketball’s Elite

There was a brief moment in the extremely early stages of the season after a matchup with the consensus No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats when premature questions surrounding the Kansas Jayhawks began after Bill Self’s club was slaughtered by a vastly overwhelming Cats’ team 72-40.

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Things looked to be turning around, but then the Jayhawks were again embarrassed on the road against Temple 77-52, a team nobody outside of the Temple locker room could have seen beating powerhouse Kansas.

There was much reason for skepticism at that point, but just as usual, Self’s Jayhawks have found a way to rise to the top and Kansas is finally among college basketball’s elite in 2014-15.

Since Kansas’ loss to Temple, the Jayhawks have won 10 of their last 11 games, with their only loss coming on the road in a nail-biter against Iowa State, whom they trounced last night in The Phog 89-76.

Now sitting pretty with a 19-3 (8-1) record, only five points separate Kansas from an unblemished record in a loaded Big 12 conference, and with the ball starting to roll in the right direction for the Jayhawks, the team to beat in the Big 12 will again be competing for a No. 1 seed once March Madness rolls around.

Betting against Bill Self and Kansas in the Big 12 is the equivalent of betting against Bruce Willis in a Die Hard movie. #kubb
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 3, 2015

What’s even more impressive for Kansas is that although they appear to be starting to peaking as they cruise through the first half of their Big 12 schedule – which has included six ranked teams in nine games – the best is still yet to come for the Jayhawks.

They’re still searching for who can be the consistent, go-to-guy down the stretch, the freshmen studs, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Cliff Alexander are continuing to show signs of improvement on a nightly basis and the rest of the pieces around guys like Perry Ellis and Wayne Selden Jr. are all starting to gel nicely.

And then to top it all off, they’ve got a future Hall of Fame head coach at the helm with plenty of experience in the winning department, with 10 straight regular-season Big 12 titles, six Big 12 tournament championships, two Final Four appearances and a national championship banner.

Seems to me that the current state of basketball in Lawrence is right where we’re used to it being: among the country’s very best.

Kansas will get a partial break in their schedule – at least compared to the general standard of competition in the Big 12 – with road trips against Oklahoma State and Texas Tech next up, whom the Jayhawks already defeated by a total of 42 points. From there, Kansa will finish their season with five of their final seven opponents being teams that are currently ranked.

Of course, the season is far from over for Kansas, and that’s even more so in the Big 12 where anyone can realistically beat anyone, but with the way things are starting to look, the Jayhawks are now in a position where the Big 12 is theirs to lose and their rightful place among college basketball’s elite is something worthy of mentioning for the first time this season.

Next: College Basketball Rankings: Top 25 Teams In America

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