Kansas Basketball Receiving Way-Too-Early Hype: Will These Jayhawks Play Up To It?

College basketball has finally arrived, and the road to Lucas Oil Stadium for the National Championship will begin soon. Before the official start date of college basketball is among us, the staff of the well-known social media account College Basketball Report gave their Final Four predictions, and the Kansas Jayhawks were recognized.

Preseason staff Final Four picks 🔮 pic.twitter.com/XS5nKahSGM
— College Basketball Report (@CBKReport) October 24, 2025

Of the eight staff members, only Parker predicted Kansas would make a Final Four run alongside Purdue, Duke, and Houston. Purdue and Houston were the clear favorites amongst the staff, with the Boilermakers receiving five total votes and the Cougars receiving six. The Blue Devils were third with three.

At the very least, before this all gets going, the Jayhawks are at least in the national conversation after being overrated the past two years - they haven't lived up to any of the preseason hype.

On paper, this team is nowhere near as loaded as the other schools mentioned on this list. However, the young parts are there, and there's a potentially great mix of talents to get hot as the season goes on.

Fans got to see the Jayhawks in real action this past Friday as they traveled to Kentucky to face off against the Louisville Cardinals in an exhibition matchup.

The highlight of the night was seeing freshman phenom Darryn Peterson display his skills at a high level, adding 24 points to the stat sheet before halftime. Peterson can not do it all by himself, though, and this is where some of the flaws and worries begin with this Kansas team.

To have a successful season, and especially make a deep run in March, you need to have multiple contributors on your squad. After Peterson, it is unclear who the second option is, and that will need to be figured out sooner rather than later. Players such as Melvin Council Jr., Flory Bidunga, Bryson Tiller, and Elmarko Jackson all contributed in the exhibition contest, but no one truly stood out.

When comparing this Jayhawks team to other teams listed in the Final Four predictions, they are not as loaded as the other teams, like Duke, Purdue, and Houston.

Although a true second option has not yet been found, Kansas still had a good showing against Louisville. They scraped out a 90-82 win and got to see new guys, such as Tiller and Council, get used to this brand new team.

It is a fun sight for Jayhawk fans to see that they are still respected as a high-level program, but Bill Self and company will need to work on efficiency, and someone will need to step up if Kansas wants to find themselves in Indianapolis come April.