Kansas Basketball Falls Outside AP Top 10 After One-Loss Week

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The Kansas Jayhawks basketball team fell out of the AP Top 10 in this week's poll after suffering a damaging loss to Cincinnati. The Jayhawks are now ranked 14th, the fourth-highest ranked team in the Big 12 conference. Despite having quality wins over Iowa State, Arizona, and Texas Tech, Kansas has seven losses overall, the most of any team ranked in the top 15.

Why it matters

The loss to Cincinnati was the worst defeat of the season for Kansas, dropping them to a No. 4 seed line in a hypothetical March Madness bracket. With a difficult remaining schedule, including games against No. 5 Houston and Arizona, the Jayhawks face an uphill battle to improve their seeding and standing in the AP Poll before the NCAA Tournament.

The details

Kansas was jumped in the poll by several teams, including Florida, Gonzaga, Illinois, Virginia, and Michigan State. The Jayhawks have considerable work to do to climb back up the rankings, as their seven losses are the most of any top 15 team. Even if Kansas splits its games this week, it likely won't see much movement in the AP Top 25, and barring a deep run in the Big 12 Tournament, the team will have a difficult path to earning anything higher than a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

• The Kansas Jayhawks lost to Cincinnati this past weekend.
• Kansas is now ranked 14th in the latest AP Poll, down from 8th the previous week.

What’s next

The Jayhawks will host No. 5 Houston on Big Monday and then travel to Tucson to take on Arizona later this week. Even if Kansas splits those games, it likely won't see much movement in the AP Top 25.