NCAA Basketball Jayhawks Background

  • Online sportsbooks have Kansas edging Texas for Big 12 title
  • Longhorns’ odds suggest they’re a national player in Chris Beard’s first season
  • West Virginia prevents value with Bob Huggins and an improved defense

Just before COVID-19 shut down the conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament in 2019, the Kansas Jayhawks’ run of 14 consecutive Big 12 championships came to an end as Kansas State, and Texas Tech shared the title outright while Iowa State knocked off the Jayhawks, 78-66, in the Big 12 Tournament championship.

The Jayhawks are ready for another Big 12 title run as coach Bill Self has refortified the roster, which is more dynamic than a year ago.

Kansas is installed with odds to win the league at (+140) with Texas (+220) and Baylor (+700) hosting more experienced and deep squads that could push those teams into a Big 12 Championship, and a late March run.

The Jayawks’ odds to win the Big 12 were posted at (+150) to begin last season and then they were thrust at (+500) to win the league’s tournament, but could not compete in the championship due to positive covid tests as Texas was crowned the champion.

The Jayhawks started at 2-0 with a huge 87-74 win over Michigan State in the Champions Classic at Madison Square Garden just a week ago. They have shown just a seven-man rotation in these first two games, with Ochai Agbaji settling in as the leading scorer where he is finding 27 points per game.

Self employs a backcourt with Dajuan Harris as the starter on the point and sharp-shooting Arizona State transfer Remy Martin as the two-guard.

Please Note:
The key will be 6-10, 250-pound senior David McCormick in the paint, where he averaged 13.4 points and 6.1 rebounds last season.

The Jayhawks are posting (+425) odds to make it to the Final Four and (+1400) odds to cut the nets in New Orleans on championship Monday.

‘Horns Up

Chris Beard moves over to his alma mater at Texas from Texas Tech, where he brought unprecedented success to the Red Raiders as they lost to Virginia in overtime in the 2019 national championship game.

Beard has a veteran backcourt with a pair of seniors in Courtney Ramey and Andrew Jones while he added Minnesota transfer Marcus Carr, who was the Golden Gophers leading scorer a year ago.

The Longhorns also brought in a solid multiple-position player in Utah transfer Timmy Allen, who was also his team’s leading scorer at 19.4 points per game. Tre Mitchell, formerly of UMass, will anchor the paint.

Texas lost at No. 1 Gonzaga, 86-64, over the weekend, but the ‘Horns are still sitting with a nice (+220) number to win the Big 12. Beard sees his squad with the same odds as Kansas to get to the Final Four (+425) as Texas has the ninth-best odds to win the national championship at (+1600).

Last season, UT was a (+800) to win the Big 12 as they posted national championship odds as low as (+1200) before getting upset by Abilene Christian in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in what proved to be Shaka Smart’s last game before he moved on to Marquette.

Baylor Bears Pressure

Baylor took out Gonzaga, 86-70, in what was a stellar NCAA Tournament run to the crown. Coach Scott Drew had some major turnover, but he has a solid group that starts with Arizona transfer James Akinjo on the point where he went for 15.6 points per game in Tucson a year ago.

The Bears opened last season with odds at (+165) to win the Big 12, and as the (+700) gives respect to the Bears this season, it still shows the potential to have to rebuild.

Holdover Adam Flagler shot 43.4 percent from three last season, and then 6-9 power forward Matthew Mayer has an inside-outside game that will allow Drew to take advantage of his dynamic skill set.

L.J. Cryer was a Top 50 player out of high school who didn’t see appreciable minutes last season and Freshman Kendall Brown and center Jonathan Tchatchoua look like a good duo inside as Tchatchoua is a shot-block with a 7-3 wingspan.

Baylor is currently listed at (+500) to get to the Final Four and a (+2200) to win the national championship. Baylor’s preseason national title odds sat at (+800) and got as low as (+300) before they were set at (+500) entering the NCAA Tournament.

Huggs, Anyone?

It’s time for West Virginia coach Bob Huggins to get elected into the Basketball Hall of Fame as he tied Bob Knight for fourth on the all-time wins list at 902 last Friday when the Mountaineers took down Pitt, 74-59.

West Virginia is a strong value pick inside the Big 12 at (+900) as Sean McNeil and Taz Sherman return to the backcourt, where they will provide good experience until the roster calibrates, although the team will miss point guard Miles McBride. McNeil averaged 12.2 points last season while Sherman netted 13.4 per game.

The Mountaineers have odds set at (+1200) to make it to the Final Four while they catch (+5000) to win the national championship. Kedrian Johnson and ODU transfer Malik Curry will be a solid duo on the point for the Mountaineers as Curry was second-team all-CUSA a year ago. Johnson can play inside-out from the point which will put pressure on defenses.

Keep an eye on Isaiah Cottrell in the middle as he is back after tearing an Achilles last season. Jalen Bridges and Gabe Osabuohien will also be keys as forwards as Osabuohien has length inside and affects opponents’ shots as he can guard many positions.

Last season, the Mountaineers came in with (+500) odds to win the Big 12 and went into the NCAA Tournament with odds at (+700) before losing to Syracuse in the second round.

Meanwhile, on the Big 12 Range

Coach Mark Adams takes over at Texas Tech, where the Red Raiders have (+850) odds to win the Big 12 title. Getting Terrance Shannon, Jr., back out of the NBA Draft process and keeping Kevin McCullar was huge for Adams.

Bryson Williams and Davion Warren have led the Red Raiders’ attack in their 3-0 start by averaging 18.7 points and 16.0 points, respectively.

The Red Raiders are presented with a (+900) to make it to the Final Four and a (+4000) to win the national championship.

Oklahoma State (+2000), Oklahoma (+3000), TCU (+10000), Kansas State (+15000), and Iowa State (+20000) round out the ten teams’ chance to win the league.

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Kenneth Cross

Content covered on TSG: Blog and News

Kenneth Cross is a veteran of sports journalism with over 25 years of experience in print, broadcast, and internet coverage. Highlights of his extensive career include over 20 years of being a radio correspondent for esteemed outlets ESPN Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and CBS Sports Radio. Cross is a lover of all sports, but college basketball is his passion. You can find him regularly chatting with the top D-1 college basketball coaches from around the nation on his podcast Marching to Madness.

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