Kansas basketball team, which has lost eight players to the NCAA transfer portal and two to the NBA draft (after Kevin McCullers) announced to return on Wednesday1 on CBS Sports’ preseason “Top 25 and 1” rankings, which were updated Tuesday by analyst Gary Parish ahead of McCullers’ decision.
Parish’s ranking tied the previous year’s Big 12 regular-season champion Jayhawks at the top of the poll. Kansas has added four transfers and four high schoolers in recruiting so far.
No. 2 UConn is followed in the top 10 by No. 3 Purdue, No. 4 Marquette, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 FAU, No. 7 Michigan State, No. 8 Houston, No. 9 Arkansas and No. 1 Texas State. 10 Cretan.
Remaining voting: Miami, Gonzaga, USC, Kentucky, San Diego State, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Alabama, Texas, Baylor, Arizona, UCLA, St. Mary’s, Iowa State, Mississippi State and Auburn.
Before news broke of McCullers’ return, Parish predicted that returning DeJuan Harris and KJ Adams would be joined in the starting lineup by newcomers Elmarco Jackson, Nick Timberlake and Hunter Dickinson.
“This is a starting lineup with size, shooting and experience. Combine this with the fact that Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer Bill Self – a man who has appeared in 24 consecutive NCAA tournaments and 10 of the last 16 NCAA tournaments at No. 1 seed – will be the person developing the roster and coaching the team, and I personally think the Jayhawks should now be considered favorites to win the 2024 NCAA Tournament,” Parish wrote Tuesday.
The eight Jayhawks who have entered the portal since season’s end are: Ernest Udeh (undecided), Kyle Cuffa Jr. (Syracuse), Bobby Pettiford (East Carolina), Cam Martin (Boise State), Zach Clemens (Santa Barbara), Joseph Yesufu ( Washington State), MJ Rice (North Carolina State) and Zubi Ejiofor (St. John’s).
Four portals have been added so far: Parker Braun (Santa Clara), Hunter Dickinson (Michigan), Nick Timberlake (Towson) and Arterio Morris (Texas).
The Jayhawks, who still have one scholarship left to award in their 2023 recruiting class, have returned scholarship players in McCullers, Adams and Harris. KU also signed Marcus Adams, Elmarco Jackson, Chris Johnson and Jamari McDowell.
KU Receives No. 1 Overall Seed in Lunardi’s Bracket
ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi predicted on Tuesday that KU would be the overall No. 1 seed in the 2024 NCAA tournament.
The first round of the Analyst South Regional has No. 16 seed South Dakota State playing KU in Omaha. The winner will face either No. 8 seed Miami or No. 9 Colorado in the Round of 32.
The No. 2 seed in this region is Purdue and the No. 3 seed is Creighton.
Other No. 1 seeds, according to Lunardi: Duke in the East, Michigan State in the Midwest and Marquette in the West. It does not have Kansas State, Missouri or Wichita State reaching the tournament.
KU dominates the list of top 10 coaches
Kansas graduates Fogg Allen, Dean Smith and Adolph Rupp joined former KU coach Roy Williams on ChatGPT’s list of the top 10 men’s basketball coaches of all time.
Kentucky coaching legend Rupp was ranked No. 3, North Carolina coach Smith No. 4, KU/UNC coach Williams No. 6 and KU coach Allen No. 8, according to results provided to the NCAA March Madness Twitter account via chatgpt Was.
Hall of Famer Bill Self was not in ChatGPT’s top ten.
top 10:
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John Wooden (UCLA)
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Mike Krzyzewski (Dukes)
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Adolph Rupp (Kentucky)
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Dean Smith (UNC)
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Bob Knight (Indiana)
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Roy Williams (KU/UNC)
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Jim Calhoun (Ukon)
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Fogg Allen (KU)
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Tom Izzo (Michigan State)
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John Thompson (George Town)
The March Madness Twitter account asked ChatGPT to select the 10 best college players since 2000.
Duke’s Zion Williamson was No. 1, followed by Anthony Davis (Kentucky), Kevin Durant (Texas), Blake Griffin (Oklahoma), Carmelo Anthony (Syracuse), Kevin Love (UCLA), Stephen Curry (Davidson), JJ Reddick ( Duke) ), Frank Kaminski (Wisconsin) and Trey Burke (Michigan).
