Kansas on the Brink of Being Unranked After Duke Loss: Is This the New Norm?

In this week's edition of the AP Top 25, the Kansas Jayhawks jumped up one spot to No. 24 following a week in which they went 2-0. KU opened the preseason at No. 19 nationally but dropped six spots after a road loss to North Carolina.

On Tuesday, the Jayhawks came up short against Duke, giving them their second loss of the early season and a 3-2 record. If the trend with the polls continues, the Jayhawks will either slip to No. 25 or even go unranked, despite a somewhat encouraging performance without Darryn Peterson.

This comes one season after the Jayhawks finished unranked in the AP Poll for the first time ever under Bill Self. Should this be considered the new norm? Is Kansas no longer a perennial top-10 school?

Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self yells out during the second half of the game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders inside Allen Fieldhouse on Nov. 11, 2025. | Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It is no secret that Kansas always schedules one of the toughest nonconference slates in college basketball. Fans were well aware that both of these games could result in losses regardless of whether Peterson played at the beginning of the season.

However, coming off consecutive seasons with double-digit losses, this is something Jayhawk fans are not accustomed to.

There were times when Kansas would only lose three or four games in an entire season, let alone in the first two weeks.

Of course, there is absolutely more parity in today's sport, which is good for viewership and other fanbases, but it has also made life a lot harder for historically dominant programs like Kansas.

Kansas On SI's Take

Firstly, I don't think Kansas deserves to drop after a close neutral-site loss to a top-5 opponent without its top player. The AP voters may echo this sentiment.

Either way, it feels as though Kansas is looking at its third consecutive double-digit loss campaign. Only six more regular-season losses and a Big 12/NCAA Tournament defeat are needed to reach that mark, and the Jayhawks may already drop one or two more nonconference games.

The team can still have a successful year with a subpar record for KU standards, depending on how they compete in postseason play. More clarity on where this group stands will be provided if and when Peterson returns at full strength.

Realistically, the national polls don't mean much until later in the season around Selection Sunday. But the current situation in which Kansas finds itself looking from the outside in, rather than being among the top-tier contenders, has an undeniably eerie feel.