Men’s College Basketball 2021-2022 Season Preview: Kansas Jayhawks

The Big 12 had a successful year in men’s college basketball in 2020 as the Baylor Bears closed out the season as the national champs. It was a dominant run, and they truly were the best team in college basketball.

The conference comes into the new year looking strong from top to bottom, but there was some drama in the offseason with a few teams planning to leave for the SEC. Texas and Oklahoma will be headed to the SEC in the near future, but for this year at least it’ll be business as usual.

Like many other conferences around the country, Big 12 teams took advantage of the expanded transfer portal and loaded up with all sorts of new faces. Figuring out rotations will be especially important for this group so let’s dive in and take our best crack at deciphering the best players for each squad.

In this one, Kansas.

(Check out our full college basketball season preview!)

Kansas Jayhawks 2021-2022 Season Preview

2020-2021 record: 21-9 (12-6 Big 12), second in Big 12
Postseason: Lost in NCAA Tournament second round

Key Departures | Kansas Jayhawks

• Marcus Garrett (playing professionally)

Key Additions | Kansas Jayhawks

• Joseph Yesufu (transferred from Drake)
• Remy Martin (transferred from ASU)
• Jalen Coleman-Lands (transferred from Iowa State)
• Cam Martin (D2 transfer)
• Bobby Pettiford (4 star recruit)

Returners | Kansas Jayhawks

• Ochai Agbaji (14.2 PPG/3.7 RPG/1.1 SPG)
• Jalen Wilson (11.8 PPG/7.9 RPG/2 APG)
• David McCormack (13.4 PPG/6.1 RPG)
• Christian Braun (9.7 PPG/5.2 RPG/1.2 SPG)
• Dajuan Harris (2.4 PPG)
• Mitch Lightfoot (3.4 PPG/2.5 RPG)

Kansas Jayhawks Outlook for 2021-2022

The Jayhawks are the favorites to win the conference after only losing Marcus Garrett from a year ago. He was their top defender, but they have the pieces needed to make some noise. As I’ve said in other previews, experience and good point guard play is the key to success in March which are two things the Jayhawks have plenty of.

Agbaji, Wilson and McCormack were key returners for this team and should make up the most important part of the Jayhawks core this season. Wilson was inconsistent once conference play arrived, so it’ll be interesting to see how much he has matured during the offseason. Agbaji worked himself from mainly a dunker into a steady contributor who was a key cog for DFS players most of the season. McCormack blossomed as the season went on and should be an unstoppable force down in the low block. He had the highest usage and shot rates on the team last year. He also had a top-50 offensive rebounding rate and nearly a 5% block rate. He is going to be a PTPer, as Dick Vitale would say.

I wasn’t too sure about the Remy Martin addition via the portal, as he has a history of taking bad shots and I just don’t see how his style will work in a Bill Self offense. Reports from their latest exhibition suggest there is already trouble between Martin and his coach, as they’ve seemingly had a spat over something. The industry has loved Martin for years, but I’ve been one of the few who just doesn’t use him much for my builds and am not a believer in him this year. He could easily prove me wrong though. Joseph Yesufu was the alpha on Drake last year and led them to an NCAA tournament berth, so he has experience. Christian Braun will probably be moved to the bench this year where he can act as an instant offense type. Braun is a streaky three-point shooter, but when he was on, he was really on. Cam Martin averaged 25 PPG at the D2 level and will likely serve as an insurance policy more than anything. There is a bit of a logjam on this team at his position so he may not be on the floor enough initially to matter. Jalen Coleman-Lands and Mitch Lightfoot have been in college forever so that’s even more experience for this Jayhawks roster.

(Check out our rankings of the top 100 teams and top 100 players for men’s college basketball in 2021-2022.)

Summary

The expectations on this team are sky high. The main question I have is how Bill Self will keep his glut of weapons happy with just one basketball available. I have my doubts about Remy Martin, but time will tell how it shakes out. I’m expecting a big year for McCormack with steady production from Agbaji and maybe even Yesufu.