They've been at this all season -- dominating opponents for 40 minutes and taking out impressive targets no matter which point in the season. For the Kansas Jayhawks, it's not about peaking at the right time. It's about winning at every stage of the college basketball season.
Bill Self's squad has looked unbeatable in every month, winning both at home and on the road. The Jayhawks are 9-1 away from Lawrence with solid wins against Cal, Michigan and Missouri, with the lone loss at in-state rival Kansas State a month ago. At home, they've taken out top targets like UCLA, Memphis, Arizona and Colorado State along with several notable conference wins on their way to the Big 12 title. Closing out the season with their fifth consecutive win at Missouri only sealed the deal on an incredible regular season.
While Kansas still has to play through the Big 12 tournament, there's no other team that deserves to unseat them even if Kansas should fail to take the Big 12 tournament crown. Purdue just recently lost to Iowa in a shocker, so that solidifies their position at No. 2 at best in the Tournament draw. Texas lost late in the season to Colorado and Kansas State and it's unrealistic that Texas would be placed over a conference rival like Kansas. BYU's late season loss to New Mexico and the drama surrounding the dismissal of Brandon Davies takes away that option.
Even then, Duke is a much better option to lose a top rated seed than Kansas with late season losses at North Carolina over the weekend and Virginia Tech several days before that. At this point, no matter what comes in this week's Big 12 Tournament, Kansas should feel just fine about its position at the top and draw come Selection Sunday.
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NCAA Tournament Prediction: Kansas Deserves No. 1 Seed No Matter What Happens In Big 12 Tourney
By
Matt Conner