Kansas Basketball Criminally Underrated in KenPom Despite Recent Victories

The tone of the 2025-26 Kansas basketball season has completely changed over the past few days since the Jayhawks went undefeated in the Players Era event from Monday to Wednesday.

Bill Self and Co. picked up convincing victories over Notre Dame, Syracuse, and No. 17 Tennessee, proving that his group is capable of competing with the best teams in the country even without its best player, Darryn Peterson.

While the Jayhawks will likely skyrocket in national rankings once the next AP Top 25 is announced on Monday, one specific metric does not buy into the Jayhawks just yet.

KenPom ratings still have the Jayhawks placed all the way down at No. 20 nationally, sitting behind Big 12 schools Iowa State, Arizona, and BYU.

Kansas Basketball's Rating in KenPom

Offensive Efficiency: 117.1 (52nd nationally)
Defensive Efficiency: 94.5 (9th nationally)
Strength of Schedule: +9.22 (29th nationally)

KenPom is one of the most respected metrics in college basketball, so it's a bit disheartening that it still has KU ranked just inside the top 20. The Jayhawks raised a lot of people's expectations this week with their victories.

Then again, it is obvious why KU hasn't jumped in the rankings just yet. Most of its wins without Peterson have been scrappy, hard-fought games that went down to the wire and weren't all that pretty, indicated by an offensive efficiency that ranks outside the top 50 in the country.

The Jayhawks still have some work to do on that end. However, they will undoubtedly find points easier to come by once one of the best scorers in the country makes his way back to the court.

A lot of KU's players do not exactly stuff the stat sheet but still contribute in other ways with their intangibles and intensity. The box score does not explain the impact that players like Melvin Council Jr., Tre White, and others have on a game.

Kansas On SI's Take

It is quite impressive that KU has a top-10 defense nationally, given all of the difficult opponents it has faced. Duke's offense is ranked No. 5 in the country, Tennessee's No. 18, and North Carolina's No. 45.

Most schools across the country haven't taken on such a difficult schedule yet, and the Jayhawk strength of schedule will only increase once they take on UConn in Allen Fieldhouse this Tuesday.

Fans shouldn’t look too deeply into the KenPom rankings right now. If KU wants to be a dangerous team in the NCAA Tournament though, it must score points at a higher efficiency moving forward.