College basketball rankings: Kansas jumps into top five in Top 25 And 1 as Jayhawks get back on track

CBS Sports Graphic

A week ago around this time, Kansas was on a three-game losing streak that left some wondering if the Jayhawks were actually legitimate contenders to repeat as national champions.

Me? I more or less chalked it up to a ridiculously tough three-game streak against ranked schools.

As I’ve repeatedly explained in many places over the past week, roughly 95% of college basketball’s 363 teams would be likely to go 0-3 in a three-game streak against Kansas State (away), TCU ( home) and Baylor (away). So, of course, it was noteworthy that the Jayhawks were on a three-game losing streak, because three-game losing streaks are extremely rare for them, but I stopped short of calling that troubling or even slightly worrisome.

And now look.

Kansas ended its losing streak over the weekend with a 77-68 win at Kentucky, then backed it up Tuesday night with a 90-78 win over Kansas State. Both wins doubled with Quadrant 1 wins, meaning Kansas now has a national-best nine Q1 wins on its resume.

That’s two more than anyone else.

Despite losing four of the top five scorers on the team that won the 2022 NCAA Tournament, Kansas is 9-4 in Quadrant 1 and 4-0 in Quadrant 2 — or 13-4 in the top two quadrants with zero losses outside the first quadrant. Awesome stuff. Based on the strength of that resume, the Jayhawks are No. 5 on the daily CBS Sports Top 25 and 1 rankings updated Wednesday morning. They are one of six Big 12 schools in the top 16 of the Top 25 and 1. The others are Texas No. 6, Kansas State No. 8, Iowa State No. 11, the No. 12 Baylor and the No. 16 TCU.

Ranking Top 25 and 1

The biggest movers

5 Miami (Florida)

5 Kansas State

To: Miami, MO | Departure: Indiana, State of San Diego