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2025 Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Predictions and Odds to Win National Championship

by Ryan Cobbett - 10/27/2025

Kansas Jayhawks basketball predictions Flory Bidunga

The Kansas Jayhawks opened the season looking like the best team in the country. They took down #9 UNC and #11 Duke along their way to a seven-game winning streak. Unfortunately, things took a turn in the month of December when they lost back-to-back road games against Creighton and Missouri. After those losses, Kansas failed to regain their dominant momentum and some key injuries limited the potential of this Bill Self squad. They would finish the regular season with a 20-11 record while going just 11-9 in conference play. The Jayhawks finished the year with a 4-4 record against Top 25 teams. The Jayhawks managed to win their first game of the Big 12 tournament by escaping an early upset bid at the hands of UCF, winning the game in overtime by just four. The magic ran out for Kansas as they would fall in the next round to the Arizona Wildcats. Despite their late season struggles, Kansas still claimed a 7-Seed in March Madness, but that didn’t mean much as they were upset by 10-Seed Arkansas who ended their season in the first round of the tournament.

Lacking a true deep threat, Kansas ranked in the middle of the Big 12 in scoring as they averaged 76.1 PPG. They were incredibly efficient, as they always are, shooting 47% as a team, though they struggled from the free-throw line as they finished the season with a lowly 71.6% FT%. They played well on defense as they held opponents to just 69.6 PPG while keeping them to just a 40% FG%. Their perimeter defense was elite as they limited their opponents to a mere 30.8% 3P%. The Jayhawks finished sixth in the Big 12 with a +6.5 PPG differential, led the conference with a +6.9% FG% differential, and second in the Big 12 with a +4.7 APG differential. Hunter Dickinson led the team with 17.4 PPG and 10 RPG while also shooting 52.6% from the floor. Zeke Mayo was second on the team with 14.6 PPG and he shot 42.2% from beyond the arc. KJ Adams Jr. and Dajuan Harris Jr. both joined Dickinson and Mayo averaging over 30 MPG while Adams and Harris both averaged over nine PPG. Harris led the team with 5.7 APG while Adams was third on the team with 5.0 RPG.

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Key Additions/Losses

This year’s Jayhawks team is going to look a lot different than last season. Dickinson and Mayo are both in the NBA while Adams and Harris ran out of eligibility. As if that wasn’t a big enough loss, Rylan Griffin transferred to Texas A&M, AJ Storr transferred to Ole Miss, Zach Clemence transferred to Texas A&M while both David Coit and Rakease Passmore transferred to Maryland. This left Kansas with Flory Bidunga as the biggest returning player from last year’s roster.

While the Jayhawks transfer class ranks just 43rd in the country, they brought in some top recruits from the high school ranks. They signed top prospect Darryn Peterson who should quickly turn into one of the best prospects in college basketball. In addition to Peterson, they signed three four-star prospects in Kohl Rosario, Samis Calderon, and Paul Mbiya. Rounding out the incoming freshmen are Corbin Allen and Nginyu Ngala. In addition to the incoming freshmen, the Jayhawks made three moves in the transfer portal this offseason. They signed Melvin Council Jr. who averaged 14.6 PPG, 5.4 RPG, and 4.1 APG while shooting 43.5% from the floor for St. Bonaventure last season. Tre White is going to suit up for his fourth team in as many years after averaging 10.5 PPG and 5.5 RPG for Illinois last season. Finally, Kansas signed Jayden Dawson who averaged nearly 14 PPG last season for Loyola Chicago.

X-Factors

Can They Win Late?- Last season the Jayhawks spent a significant number of days as the top ranked team in the country, but they failed to make any noise late in the season. This season the projections don’t have them as high, but there is a lot to like about what the Jayhawks will be displaying on the court this season. Houston, Iowa State, Arizona, and Texas Tech all look to be significant contenders in the Big 12 this season, but there is no elite tier that would separate Kansas from having a chance. This group of teams will all be in close contention with each other, so the real X-Factor here for Kansas is whether or not Self can get his boys ready for the big games in conference play, the conference tournament, and then again in March Madness. This is a storied program that suffered a setback last season, it is time for them to make another run and prove that there are still a top program in the country.

Notable Games

Home - #4 UConn, #16 Iowa State, #8 BYU, #13 Arizona, #2 Houston

Away/Neutral - @ #25 UNC, #6 Duke, @ #10 Texas Tech, @ #16 Iowa State, @ #13 Arizona

Key Odds/Rankings:

NCAA Champion: +2200

Conference Winner: +700

AP Top 25- 19th

Andy Katz’s Power 37- 10th

2025 Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Predictions

This is one of the toughest outlooks in the Top 25. They are bringing in Peterson who could entirely elevate this Jayhawks squad from just another ranked team to one of the best in the nation. However, he still has to adjust to the college ranks and while he will get early exposure to some of the best talent in the country, production still has to happen. The transfer class is a good mix of veteran experience, but this group may not entirely replace all the production that was lost from last year. It remains to be seen whether or not this group can contend for a national title, but you better believe that Self will have them in the thick of things in the Big 12. At +700 odds of winning the conference, they are worth a flier.

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