Who’s No. 1? College basketball experts like Kansas Jayhawks’ chances in 2024-25
Kansas men’s basketball will be the No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi predicted Thursday.
Lunardi — he will continue to release an NCAA Tournament bracket monthly leading up to the NCAAs — has two-time defending champ UConn, Duke and Houston as the other No. 1 seeds.
Kansas State, Missouri and Wichita State will not receive bids in the 68-team field, according to Lunardi.
He has the Jayhawks meeting No. 16 seed Kansas City in a first-round Midwest Regional contest in Wichita. A KU victory would mean a second-round battle against either No. 8 Kentucky or No. 9 Clemson, also in Wichita.
Lunardi awarded Alabama a 2 seed in the Midwest Regional with Arizona a No. 3 seed and Purdue a 4 seed. Two victories in Wichita would send KU to Indianapolis for Midwest Regional Sweet 16 and Elite Eight contests. The 2025 Final Four is in San Antonio.
“The fault lines of college basketball are on full display in this special post-portal update,” Lunardi wrote Thursday, a day after the May 1 closing of the transfer portal. “Duke, still a projected No. 1 seed but no longer first overall, remains at the forefront of one-and-done recruiting. Kansas, though, has eclipsed the Blue Devils in this bracket thanks to the post-pandemic mantra of ‘get old, stay old.’
“Not only are the Jayhawks returning national POY candidate Hunter Dickinson for his COVID year, but Kansas also boasts fifth-year guard Dajuan Harris along with veteran portal additions Rylan Griffen (Alabama), AJ Storr (Wisconsin), Riley Kugel (Florida) and Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State). All have NCAA Tournament experience and will certainly help the Jayhawks erase the injury-riddled conclusion to their 2023-24 campaign, when KU dropped five of its last seven contests.
“Finally, we can’t ignore the newcomer among our 1 seeds. Perhaps you’ve heard of two-time defending champion Connecticut, which added firepower both old (Saint Mary’s sharpshooter Aidan Mahaney) and young (recent top-15 signee Liam McNeeley) to its three-peat bid. The 2024-25 title chase is shaping up quite nicely,” Lunardi added.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello offers his take
ESPN.com’s Jeff Borzello put out a “Way-Too-Early Top 25” on April 25, while the portal was still open.
He ranked Kansas No. 2 in the country behind only Houston. However, he noted “if the Jayhawks get Hunter Dickinson back, they’ll be No. 1.”
Dickinson on April 26 indeed announced he’d be returning to KU for a super-senior season.
Iowa State came in third, followed by Gonzaga, Baylor, Alabama, Duke, North Carolina, Arizona, UConn, Auburn, Purdue, Florida, Marquette, UCLA, Indiana, Texas, Texas A&M, Miami, Tennessee, Maryland, Cincinnati, Xavier, Ohio State and Rutgers.
Of KU, Borzello wrote: “After entering 2023-24 ranked No. 1, Bill Self had one of his most disappointing seasons since taking over in Lawrence. So far, he has recruited the transfer portal with that in mind, already reeling in Storr, Mayo, Kugel and Griffen.
“And he’s not done yet. The key will be Hunter Dickinson. He has the ability to come back for another year. Should he do so, the Jayhawks will be a lock for preseason No. 1.”
As stated, Dickinson will be returning.
Another early basketball poll revealed
CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish also handed KU a No. 1 ranking in his “Top 25 and one” poll, released Wednesday.
Houston is No. 2, followed by North Carolina, UConn, Iowa State, Duke, Gonzaga, Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Texas A&M, Purdue, Clemson, Arizona, Ohio State, Marquette, Tennessee, Indiana, Creighton, Florida, UCLA, Texas, Rutgers, Providence, Michigan State and Xavier.
“This ranking is based on Bill Self’s Jayhawks returning three of the top six scorers — specifically Hunter Dickinson, KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris — from a team that secured a No. 4 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament,” Parrish wrote. “The additions of Storr, Griffen, Kugel and Mayo from the transfer portal, plus two top-50 high school prospects (Flory Bidunga, Rakease Passmore), will give Kansas the type of depth it lacked during this past season that was derailed by Kevin McCullar’s lack of availability.”
