18 Days Until Kansas Basketball: Kansas Ranked 3rd in KenPom Preseason Rankings

I don’t use only KenPom, but in terms of widespread analytics, it is the go to site of choice by far. Pomeroy has put out preseason rankings the last few years, and this is the first year of preseason rankings with his new formula.

All of this is burying the lede, which is that Kansas ranks 3rd in the KenPom preseason rankings. The Jayhawks have a (currently projected) adjusted efficiency margin (which is just points per 100 possessions minus points allowed per 100 possessions) of +25.77. That is about 4 points behind #1 Duke, 3 points behind #2 Villanova, and just .1 points ahead of #4 Kentucky.

KenPom also has the Jayhawks at 113.6 points per 100 possessions and 87.8 points allowed per 100 possessions, which ranks 6th and 4th respectively.

At this point the offense obviously is a bit more of a mystery. Will Carlton Bragg be able to virtually step into Perry Ellis’s shoes? Will Wayne Selden be replaced? Is Devonte Graham really this good? The defense, however, looks solid. Landen Lucas is one of the best interior defenders in the country, Mason and Graham are the best defensive backcourt since 2008, and Josh Jackson has been compared to Wiggins defensively. Assuming there isn’t a lot of foul trouble, 4th might be a bit low for this group.

Take a look at the preseason rankings and discuss others that are too high or too low (for example: North Dakota is way too low at 147).