I was asked, on radio in Kansas City earlier this week, something along the lines of what kind of team is Kansas without Kevin McCullar Jr. and Hunter Dickinson.
My answer?
The type of team that was a 2.5-point underdog on Wednesday to a Cincinnati team that's way on the wrong side of the bubble as Selection Sunday approaches. In other words, Kansas at full-strength is capable of making a Final Four. But I always assumed Kansas without its two best players would look about how most teams would look without their two best players, and that was precisely the case when the Jayhawks lost their Big 12 opener to the 11-seed Bearcats.
Final score: Cincinnati 72, Kansas 52.
The Jayhawks, with only three players who average at least 4.8 points per game available, shot just 33.9% from the field and 15% from 3-point range. They were limited to less than 53 points for the second straight game.
"Obviously we were bad offensively and didn't make shots — didn't make any shots," said Kansas coach Bill Self. "And today was a night that things had to go a lot better for us shooting the basketball [because of our roster-limitations] to have a chance."
McCullar (knee) and Dickinson (shoulder) are expected back for next week's NCAA Tournament, according to Self. At worst, they'll now have 11 days between games to try to get as close to 100% as they can get before the Round of 64.
Kansas is No. 17 in Thursday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Purdue remains No. 1 for the 23rd consecutive day. UConn and Houston round out the top three. Those schools are now guaranteed to be the top three seeds in the NCAA Tournament (in some order) when the bracket is unveiled Sunday on CBS.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Zach Edey finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds in Sunday's 78-70 win over Wisconsin. The Boilermakers are the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. | -- | 34-5 |
| 2 |  | Alex Karaban finished with 16 points and two steals in Saturday's 74-60 win at Providence. The Huskies are the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament. | -- | 37-3 |
| 3 |  | Jamal Shead finished with 13 points and eight assists in Saturday's 76-46 win over Kansas. The Cougars are the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. | -- | 32-5 |
| 4 |  | Cormac Ryan finished with 31 points and two rebounds in Saturday's 84-79 win at Duke. The Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament. | -- | 29-8 |
| 5 |  | Santiago Vescovi was 0 of 5 from the field in Saturday's 85-81 loss to Kentucky. The Vols are the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 27-9 |
| 6 |  | Milan Momcilovic was 0 of 2 from the field in Saturday's 65-58 loss at Kansas State. The Cyclones are the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. | -- | 29-8 |
| 7 |  | Baylor Scheierman finished with 18 points and six assists in Saturday's 69-67 win at Villanova. The Bluejays are the No. 2 seed in the Big East Tournament. | -- | 25-10 |
| 8 |  | Caleb Love was 1 of 10 from the field in Saturday's 78-65 loss at USC. The Wildcats are the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. | -- | 27-9 |
| 9 |  | RayJ Dennis had four turnovers in Saturday's 78-68 loss at Texas Tech. The Bears are the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. | -- | 24-11 |
| 10 |  | Oso Ighodaro finished with 24 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 86-80 win at Xavier. The Golden Eagles are the No. 3 seed in the Big East Tournament. | -- | 27-10 |
| 11 |  | Great Osobor finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 87-85 win over New Mexico. The Aggies are the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West Tournament. | -- | 28-7 |
| 12 |  | Jeremy Roach was 3 of 12 from the field in Saturday's 84-79 loss to Duke. The Blue Devils are the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament. | -- | 27-9 |
| 13 |  | Denver Jones finished with 21 points and three assists in Saturday's 92-78 win over Georgia. The Tigers are the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 27-8 |
| 14 |  | Fousseyni Traore finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds in Wednesday's 87-73 win over UCF. The Cougars' next game is Thursday against Texas Tech. | -- | 23-11 |
| 15 |  | Terrence Shannon Jr. finished with 25 points and three rebounds in Sunday's 73-61 win at Iowa. The Illini are the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. | 1 | 29-9 |
| 16 |  | Reed Sheppard finished with 27 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 85-81 win at Tennessee. The Wildcats are the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament. | 1 | 23-10 |
| 17 |  | Johnny Furphy was 1 of 8 from the field in Wednesday's 72-52 loss to Cincinnati. The Jayhawks' next game will be in the NCAA Tournament. | 2 | 23-11 |
| 18 |  | DaRon Holmes II finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 91-86 win over VCU. The Flyers are the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. | -- | 25-8 |
| 19 |  | Jarod Lucas finished with 26 points and three rebounds in Saturday's 75-65 win over UNLV. The Wolf Pack are the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. | -- | 26-8 |
| 20 |  | B.J. Mack finished with 25 points and two blocks in Saturday's 93-89 win at Mississippi State. The Gamecocks are the No. 5 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 26-8 |
| 21 |  | Mark Sears finished with 22 points and six assists in Saturday's 92-88 in over Arkansas. The Crimson Tide are the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 25-12 |
| 22 |  | Jaylen Wells was 3 of 13 from the field in Thursday's 74-68 loss to Washington. The Cougars are the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. | -- | 25-10 |
| 23 |  | Roddie Anderson III finished with 16 points and six rebounds in Friday's 79-77 win at San Diego State. The Broncos are the No. 3 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. | -- | 22-11 |
| 24 |  | Pop Isaacs finished with 20 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 78-68 win over Baylor. The Red Raiders are the No. 4 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. | -- | 23-11 |
| 25 |  | Aidan Mahaney finished with 23 points and two rebounds in Tuesday's 69-60 win over Gonzaga. The Gaels' next game will be in the NCAA Tournament. | -- | 26-8 |
| 26 |  | Gonzaga only got four points from its bench in Wednesday's 69-60 loss to Saint Mary's. The Zags' next game will be in the NCAA Tournament. | -- | 27-8 |
