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Kansas basketball: 2019-20 season review and 2020-2021 first-look preview

By Mike Phillips

LAWRENCE, KANSAS - MARCH 04: Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks hands the the Big 12 Championship Trophy to players after Kansas defeated the TCU Horned Frogs to win the game at Allen Fieldhouse on March 04, 2020 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
LAWRENCE, KANSAS - MARCH 04: Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks hands the the Big 12 Championship Trophy to players after Kansas defeated the TCU Horned Frogs to win the game at Allen Fieldhouse on March 04, 2020 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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Christian Braun #2 of the Kansas Jayhawks (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
Christian Braun #2 of the Kansas Jayhawks (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /

How did they do?

Overall, this season was a huge success for Kansas. Bill Self did a tremendous job managing the expectations for this team and coaching it amidst the distraction of a potential NCAA probe which could impose severe penalties on the Jayhawks down the line.

This group showed flashes of immense potential early on but had its hiccups, such as a 28 turnover game against Duke and a bad home loss to Baylor. To their credit, Kansas didn’t let any of their losses linger, bouncing back with wins after all three of their regular-season defeats.

The impressive thing about Kansas was that this team didn’t have a ton of overwhelming star power but still managed to rack up a 28-3 regular-season record. Outside of Devon Dotson and Udoka Azubuike, there weren’t a ton of future pro prospects on the Jayhawks’ roster, but it was an incredibly deep group that played well together.

Teams like that are often poised to go on deep runs in the NCAA Tournament, and there is every reason to believe that would have been the case for Kansas. Even if they lost in the Big 12 Tournament, Kansas would have been the top overall seed in March Madness, and their ability to play multiple ways would have made them a matchup problem for any team in the country.

There is pretty much no doubt that if the NCAA Tournament was being played right now that Kansas would have been the betting favorite to cut down the nets in Atlanta. A Final Four run, at minimum, seemed like a strong possibility, making the lost season especially disappointing for the Jayhawks’ fan base.