The No. 17 Kansas Jayhawks have undergone an intense opening-season stretch. Now collegiate basketball is a little more forgiving when compared to other sports, so when the Jayhawks saw powerhouses No. 25 UNC, No. 5 Duke, and current No. 5 UConn on their schedule (with a later addition of Tennessee thanks to the Players Era Championship third-place match), there was a slightly reasonable excuse for the Jayhawks to not get off to a perfect 12-0 start.
Combine that schedule, which ranks 6th in KenPom’s Strength of Schedule net rating, with the looming cloud of concern over the future of injury-prone star Darryn Peterson, and even more forgiveness may be shed on the Jayhawks’ early-season record.