When Kansas got arguably the No. 1 transfer in the portal in Hunter Dickinson this past offseason, it was clearly a national title favorite and was rightfully the No. 1 team in the USA TODAY Sports preseason coaches poll.
The result? One of Bill Self’s worst seasons coaching the Jayhawks.
A promising start to the season was met with with a disappointing end, as injuries and simply being outplayed resulted in an 8-9 record to finish the season and a second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament after the Jayhawks got thumped by Gonzaga.
Kansas looked far from the team it was expected to be when it hit its downfall began in late January, and it got to the point where there were some games you knew Kansas wasn’t going to win before tip-off. In the end, the 11 losses this season are most Self has had in his 21 seasons at the helm, and given the dismal finish to this campaign, the highest-paid men’s basketball coach in the country admitted after the loss to the Bulldogs he was already done with this year.
“For the last month, I’ve been thinking about next season to be honest,” Self said.
At least he wasn’t the only person that already wrote off the Jayhawks. The disappointing end to the season highlights the winners and losers from day one of the second round, where team will survive the first weekend and advance to the Sweet 16 next week.
