Where Kansas Basketball Landed in First NET Ratings of the Season

The Kansas basketball team recently jumped back into the AP Top 25 in this week's poll after going 3-0 in the Players Era Tournament.

However, another important college basketball metric came out on Monday afternoon. The NCAA released its first NET rankings of the season, a metric that is used to evaluate teams for NCAA Tournament seeding.

Kansas was placed at No. 17 in the initial rankings, a higher spot than they are in the general polls (No. 21).

Kansas Basketball NET Rating (Dec. 1): No. 17

Sitting with a 6-2 record, the Jayhawks are ranked No. 17 in the NET. They have a 1-2 record in Quad 1 games, which came against Duke, North Carolina, and Tennessee. In Quad 2 and 4 games, KU is undefeated at 5-0 combined.

The Quad 2 opponents were Notre Dame and Syracuse, while the Quad 4 opponents were Green Bay, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and Princeton.

The NET rankings differ significantly from the human-made polls, and they take into account many factors like strength of schedule, the quality of victories and losses, and other computer metrics.

Kansas is only one of three 2-loss teams inside the top 20 of the NET, likely due to the fact that it is one of the only schools to play three or more Quad 1 opponents.

Nov 26, 2025; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Tre White (3) reacts in the second half against the Tennessee Volunteers in the 2025 Players Era Festival third place game at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The two schools that accounted for KU's losses, Duke and North Carolina, are ranked No. 2 and 26 in the NET, respectively. However, it is worth noting that the UNC game being on the road does not influence the rankings as much as a neutral site or home game.

The Jayhawks' most recent win against No. 13 Tennessee certainly impacted the rankings, as they would have otherwise been sitting at 5-3 with a winless record against Quad 1 opponents. Instead, Kansas now has a new outlook on the season and ranks No. 17 in the NET, which is a major development considering preseason Big 12 favorite Houston sits one spot behind at No. 18.

There is still a lot of season to go, but with a win over UConn on Tuesday, Kansas could jump even higher in the NET. For now, a No. 17 ranking feels perfectly acceptable considering the direction the Jayhawks appeared to be heading once Darryn Peterson began missing games.

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