Kansas
Men’s college basketball Top 25: Why Kansas is the hardest team in the sport to rank
The hardest team to figure out where to rank in college basketball is Kansas, and the biggest question I have is, what is the NCAA Tournament selection committee going to do with this team?
I ranked the Jayhawks 13th this week, which is what their season-long body of work suggests is the right spot. Using the quality-based metrics average at Bart Torvik, Kansas is 13th. Using the resume-based average, KU is 12th.
The selection committee in the past has taken into consideration results that were affected by an injury to a star player. Let’s say KU, for instance, has a similar resume to teams battling for the No. 3 or 4 seeds. Because Darryn Peterson missed however many games he’ll end up missing — 10 so far — then KU might get the bump to the 3-line.
Of course, that’s assuming Kansas has Peterson at full strength for the NCAA Tournament.
We saw what that could look like on Saturday, when the Jayhawks outscored BYU 53-33 in the first half, and Peterson scored 18 points on 6-of-7 shooting, coming off an 11-day absence from spraining his ankle against Colorado on Jan. 20.
Then, as has become customary, the Peterson experience got weird and confusing. He asked to come out early in the second half and never returned because of “cramps.” Out of the 11 games he has played, he has played to the buzzer only once — that was the CU game when he finished on a sprained ankle. It’s possible Peterson was out of shape Saturday after barely practicing since that injury, and maybe that led to him just not feeling right once he got tired. Or maybe it was a hydration issue. Or maybe he had a salty meal on Friday night. Trying to push theories or figure out what’s going on will make your head hurt, but man, it sure is fun watching him when he’s on the floor.
The Jayhawks are figuring out how to play with Peterson and he’s figuring out how to play with them, and they’ve looked elite for stretches in the last three weeks. They’ve won five straight, which started with a drubbing of Iowa State. When Peterson is on the floor over that stretch, KU is outscoring its opponents by 32.4 points per 100 possessions, per CBB Analytics.
If Peterson ever gets to the point where his injury/cramping issues are a thing of the past and he can be the most talented basketball player in the country without any “buts,” KU is a legitimate title contender.
It will be simpler if that happens before the NCAA Tournament, so the selection committee has an idea of what they’re working with when it comes to Kansas. But if it continues to play out how it has already, the committee might just need to use the season-long results without any caveats. That’s my current approach.
More below on KU and the defensive abilities of Flory Bidunga, plus why Arizona’s interior defense is so good, why Michigan didn’t get rattled when it lost its lead at Michigan State, Duke’s Cameron Boozer’s pick-and-roll prowess, Illinois’ smart attack against Nebraska, Gonzaga finding a dominant defensive lineup, Florida exploiting Alabama’s game plan and Saint Louis in an exclusive 40-40 club.
Dropped out: None
Keeping an eye on: Texas A&M, Iowa, UCF, Villanova, Kentucky, Auburn
1. Arizona (22-0)
Arizona 7-foot-2 center Motiejus Krivas is one of the best rim protectors in the country. Opponents are shooting 48.6 percent at the rim when Krivas is in the game, per CBB Analytics, and it’s not just his shot blocking that opponents have to fear. Krivas has active hands and gets a lot of strips once someone comes to a stop in the paint — usually worried about trying to score with him in the vicinity — and whenever someone does let go of the ball, he is like a goalie, able to block shots or steal passes.
Krivas has a steal in five straight games and 15 “stocks” (steals plus blocks) over that stretch.
Krivas played only eight games last year because of a foot injury, and his return is one big reason for Arizona’s improvement in 2-point defense (from 47.5 percent to 43.7) and defensive turnover rate (16.2 percent to 18.1). One question coming into the season was if Arizona would miss center Henri Veesaar, who broke out last year in Krivas’ absence and transferred to North Carolina. Veesaar has been great for the Heels, but if it was a decision between the two, it appears coach Tommy Lloyd made the right one with how elite Arizona’s defense has been.
2. Michigan (20-1)
My wife watched Michigan-Michigan State with me Friday. Her one observation: Coach Dusty May always looks like he’s smiling. Blow an 18-point lead? Still smiling. Michigan State takes the lead with 7:27 left? Still smiling. May doesn’t allow for the emotions of the game to get him too worked up. It’s Brad Stevens-esque.
His team reflected that unnerved approach. Once the Spartans took the lead, the Wolverines closed the game by scoring 28 points in their final 13 possessions.
The dagger was this after-timeout play below. Spain is one of the most popular actions in basketball. It’s a ball screen followed by a back screen for the screener. It looked like that’s what the Wolverines were running, then instead of setting the back screen, Morez Johnson Jr. slipped to the bucket:
That’s smart action and an awesome response by Michigan on the road against its rival, and there were stretches where May’s club looked like Players Era Michigan again.
4. Duke (20-1)
Last season, coach Jon Scheyer utilized the playmaking of Cooper Flagg by using him in as a ball handler in pick-and-rolls. According to Synergy, Duke ran a Flagg P&R 5.5 times per game.
Scheyer has similarly used Cameron Boozer this year but not quite as frequently — 3.3 times per game. That could be changing. Boozer is clearly Duke’s best creator and he’s become the point forward. He averaged 4.5 assists per game in January and had at least three assists in every game.
His unselfishness is clear when examining his pick-and-roll usage. Out of the 69 P&R plays he has initiated, he has attempted only 26 shots himself. On Saturday, Boozer had a season-high eight P&R plays, and he passed five times, accounting for two assists and a hockey assist.
Another reason to believe Scheyer will continue to increase his P&R usage? Duke is now scoring 1.203 points per possession on those plays, per Synergy, which bests Flagg’s mark (1.008). He’s also only one-tenth behind Flagg’s assists per game, and he’s averaging 23.5 points per game compared to Flagg’s 19.2 and doing so with higher efficiency numbers. Pretty amazing that, as good as Flagg was last season, Boozer has been even better on the offensive end.
My concerns with Duke have been point guard play, but Point Boozer might negate that mattering as much as it would with most teams.
5. Illinois (19-3)
The Illini did as good a job as anyone this season at attacking Nebraska’s no-middle defense. Illinois either attacked from the middle of the floor to avoid playing in a crowd or found cutters in the middle of the lane once they drew two to the ball:
The ball movement from @IlliniMBB >>
📺: FS1 pic.twitter.com/ASiOmFgKLq
— Big Ten Men’s Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 1, 2026
That touch pass from Tomislav Ivisic was a thing of beauty, as was the ball movement.
The Illini are at their best simply playing out of concepts and waiting for a great shot to develop. As I’ve written ad nauseam now, Illinois went to another level once freshman Keaton Wagler moved to point guard following the UConn loss. In the 14 games since, the Illini have scored 1.2 points per possession or better in 12. They’re 13-1 over that stretch with the only loss coming on a buzzer-beater against the Huskers, and they’ve now avenged that loss. They keep winning even without senior leader Kylan Boswell. If UConn ends up losing a couple of games in the Big East, the Big Ten could end up with two No. 1 seeds, and the Illini are building a worthy resume with back-to-back road wins at Purdue and Nebraska.
9. Gonzaga (22-1)
Gonzaga has had to lean into its defense since losing Braden Huff to a knee injury, and coach Mark Few has certainly gotten the message across. The Zags are the best defensive team in the country over the last five games since Huff’s injury, according to Torvik’s tracking.
They may be getting better on that end, too. Few might have found a killer defensive combo in Saturday’s 73-65 over Saint Mary’s. His finishing lineup, from the eight-minute mark to the 35-second mark, included the trio of Tyon Grant-Foster, Emmanuel Innocenti and Jalen Warley. The Gaels had four turnovers and shot just 1-of-7 over that stretch.
Those three can cover so much ground that just about every shot is contested when they’re on the floor together. As the broadcasters referenced, Few has said that Grant-Foster blocks more jump shots than any player he’s ever coached. (He has eight this season.) And in the 37 minutes the trio has shared the floor, opponents have scored just 0.801 points per possession, shot 17.2 percent from 3 and their “Hakeem” percentage (the sum of a team’s block percentage and steal percentage) is 35.2, per CBB Analytics. (For reference, Seton Hall has the best Hakeem percentage for a team at 33.5.)
Those are dominant defensive numbers. It’ll be interesting to see if Few starts playing those three together more frequently.
13. Kansas (16-5)
Bill Self surprised BYU by starting with center Flory Bidunga guarding star AJ Dybantsa on Saturday. Dybantsa was hesitant to attack Bidunga early, not taking a shot for the first eight minutes of the game.
The numbers bear out Self’s decision: In Big 12 play, I watched every possession where Bidunga ended up isolated against a perimeter player who finished the play. For those who tried to attack him inside the arc off the bounce, they turned it over twice and shot 6-of-18, with Bidunga blocking eight of those 12 misses. He also fouled twice. When he was close enough to contest a 3, those shooters were 1-of-7.
After two years of trying to build a defense that hid center Hunter Dickinson and keep him off the perimeter, Self now has a switchable star at center.
14. Florida (16-6)
Alabama decided not to guard Florida’s bigs on Sunday, and that was a mistake. The lack of pressure allowed the Gator big men to pick apart the defense with their passing and also set screens or initiate dribble-handoffs that allowed the recipient to easily turn the corner.
And once the Florida bigs got close to the basket, it was easier for them to throw passes to each other in tight quarters because they were playing at a different altitude.
high-low will go ‼️‼️
📺 ABC pic.twitter.com/mNWcsJ1dW0
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) February 1, 2026
With the lack of pressure, the Gators scored 100 points and finished with just two turnovers in a high-possession game. Their 2.6 turnover percentage was the lowest ever against a Nate Oats defense.
The narrative that the SEC doesn’t have any great teams might need an adjustment. Florida is now up to No. 6 at KenPom and has both the most efficient offense and best defense in the SEC in conference games.
18. Saint Louis (21-1)
Saint Louis could join the 40-40 club this season, shooting 40-plus percent from 3 and attempting at least 40 percent of their shots from deep. Since the 3-point line moved back in 2019-20, only three teams (BYU in 2019-20, Purdue Fort Wayne in 2020-21 and Colgate in 2021-22) have hit that mark.
Against Division I opponents, the Billikens are knocking down 41.1 percent of their 3s with a 44.8 3-point rate. Usually, percentages fall once the competition picks up, but SLU is shooting an absurd 46.2 percent from deep in conference play on a 46.6 3-point rate. The Billikens made 17 of 28 3s in Friday’s win over Dayton.
They get them in a lot of ways, but one of the hardest actions to guard is dribble-handoffs, particularly with Trey Green because of his range. Green can take a DHO from near the half-court logo, an area where you’d think it’d be safe to go under, but it’s not:
Across the board, SLU’s shooting numbers look made up, and this is one of those categories. As a team, the Billikens are shooting 51.1 percent on DHO-generated 3s, per Synergy, and Green is at 62.5 percent.
Do yourself a favor and make the Billikens appointment television.
Kansas
Kansas law revoked their right to drive and threatens their right to exist, transgender residents say
Some 1,700 Kansans had their driver’s licenses invalidated last month. It wasn’t for racking up speeding tickets or a DUI charge, but because they are transgender.
Kansas is one of five states to prohibit trans people from changing the gender marker on their licenses, but it is the first to pass a law that retroactively cancels licenses that were already changed. The law also invalidated birth certificates for those who updated their gender markers.
Hundreds of trans drivers already received letters from the state informing them their documents were “invalid immediately” and they “may be subject to additional penalties” if they continue to drive, unless they surrender the license to the Kansas Division of Vehicles and receive a new one with their birth sex.
“I’m pretty heartbroken,” said Jaelynn Abegg, a 41-year-old trans woman living in Wichita who received a letter. She said she will not turn in her license and plans to move this month to another state.
“It is a continuation of the message that the Legislature has been sending out for years now, and that is that transgender people are not welcome in Kansas,” she said.
Two anonymous trans residents sued Kansas last month, arguing that the law violates state protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality, due process and freedom of speech. On Tuesday, Douglas County District Judge James McCabria declined to grant a temporary restraining order against the law while the case proceeds.
McCabria wrote in his decision that there isn’t enough evidence to show that trans people will face harassment and discrimination if they have to use bathrooms or show IDs that conflict with their gender identities.
Kansas law was years in the making
Kansas had allowed trans people to update the gender markers on their IDs since 2007. Then in 2023, it changed its legal definition of sex to be male or female and assigned at birth.
Fifteen other states have made a similar change in the past few years — and President Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring that there are only two unchangeable sexes. The State Department now prohibits trans people from changing the gender markers on their passports.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach sued the state, arguing that allowing people to update their gender markers violated the 2023 law. Last year, the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed an appeals court decision and allowed gender marker changes to resume.
In January, Kobach backed the new bill he said would “correct an error” by the courts. The state Senate added a provision prohibiting trans people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identities in government-owned buildings. It was passed without public comment. The penalties for violating the provision can be $1,000 for individuals and up to $125,000 for government entities with more than one infraction.
Last month, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the bill, saying the Legislature “should stay out of the business of telling Kansans how to go to the bathroom and instead stay focused on how to make life more affordable for Kansans.” Days later, the Republican-held state Legislature overrode her veto.
Kansas House Speaker Daniel Hawkins, a Republican, said in a statement at the time that the law’s purpose was to protect women. “This isn’t about scoring political points, but doing what’s right for women and girls across our communities,” he said, according to the Kansas Reflector. Hawkins did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
State Rep. Mark Schreiber, the only Republican to vote against the bill, told NBC News he agreed with the appeals court that Kobach could not show how allowing trans people to change the gender markers on their licenses caused harm to the state.
“I don’t have any trans folks in my family, but I know trans people,” he said, adding that they aren’t looking for special privileges and just want to live their lives. “And we seem to keep passing laws that keep getting in the way of that.”
Harper Seldin, one of the ACLU attorneys involved in the lawsuit, said during court arguments Friday that the Kansas Legislature singled out trans Kansans “for unique social stigma.”
“They were suddenly required, with no notice or opportunity to be heard, to present themselves to the DMV to obtain driver’s licenses that announced to everyone — the teller at the bank, the clerk at the hotel, the poll worker on election day — that they are transgender,” Seldin said.
Trans people have long reported facing more harassment and discrimination while using IDs that don’t align with their gender identity or expression, and many trans Kansans said they fear that their daily risk of facing such harassment would only increase as a result of the law.
‘There was no plan whatsoever’
Over the last five years, dozens of states have considered bills targeting transgender people, but the majority of those have targeted people’s ability to play on school sports teams that align with their gender identities and minors’ access to transition-related care. In the last few years, state and federal policies have shifted to focus on changing legal definitions of sex and restricting access to updated identity documents.
Logan Casey, director of policy research at the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank that tracks legislation, described these broader laws as “gender regulation laws” that attack the fundamental rights and identity of trans people.
“The point all along for the people pushing these bills and these attacks has been to single out transgender people and create a license to discriminate against transgender people and remove them from public life,” he said. “In effect, trying to get them to stop being transgender.”
Kansas’ law took effect immediately after it was published in the register Feb. 26. A spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Revenue told the Kansas Reflector that the law invalidated about 1,700 licenses. The department did not respond to a request for comment. During the court hearing Friday, Kobach said the department had so far sent letters to 275 Kansans and 138 had received new licenses.
Andrea Ellis, a 34-year-old trans woman living in Wellington, said she received a letter Wednesday even though she never changed the gender marker on her license — she only legally changed her name on it in December. She drove to the DMV the next day, where she said staff were confused about what to do and said her license had a “flag” on it.
They cut the corner off her license and gave her a temporary one. But later that day, they called her and said she had to return to the DMV because they made an error. When she went back, she said they gave her another temporary license that looked the same as the first.
“They claim that it was thought out, and everything else, but there was no grace period unlike any other kind of rollout program,” Ellis said. “There was no plan whatsoever.”
Some trans residents, like Matthew Neumann, said they still haven’t received any notification regarding their licenses. Neumann, who is the executive director of the LGBTQ Foundation of Kansas, said he’s been checking the validity of his license every day on the Kansas Department of Revenue website, and it’s still valid as of Friday.
Neumann said his organization has raised funds to help trans Kansans pay to update their licenses. Getting a license with an updated gender marker costs $8.75, while receiving a new ID is $26.
Neumann has lived in Larned, Kansas, for 20 years and said he will never leave. He said he’s been threatened over his restroom use, and he fears he could face more harassment under the new law.
“I’m just disappointed and frustrated,” he said. “I’m just hoping that maybe this is the wake up call we need,” he said.
KISMET, Kan. (KWCH) – Last month, wildfires in southern Kansas raged, destroying farmer Randall Thorp’s property, tools and 960 acres of land.
As he handles the massive cleanup project, he knows he is not alone.
“It’s about the greatest show of love I’ve ever seen,” Thorpe said. “I didn’t realize that I would have all this support in my greatest time of need.”
The two main contributors to Thorp’s optimism are the community around him and his faith.
“I’ve seen a lot of darkness that, because of my faith in Jesus, I can see the light in my heart,” Thorp said. “And that’s what keeps me going.”
Throughout the past few weeks, friends, family and neighbors have come to his property to help sort out and clean up the debris.
“I come out here and I’m by myself and I find it hard to do anything, but when a group of people all shows up and they’re wanting to work, then I’m ready to get to work with them, and they’re all ready to help me,” Thorp said.
Even with all the uncertainty following the fire, Thorp has been able to feed the 150 cattle he has, a number that is now growing since it is calving season. Friendly helpers are providing free hay for his animals to eat.
There’s a long way until things will be back to normal, but Thorp is determined to get there.
“You know, I can see some light at the end of the tunnel, but I’ve got to stay strong and keep it going and make it through,” Thorp said.
The powerful show of dependability from fellow Kansans is something he will never forget.
“I’ve been shown lots of love,” Thorp said.
You can still donate to Thorp’s GoFundMe here.
Copyright 2026 KWCH. All rights reserved. To report a correction or typo, please email news@kwch.com
Kansas City International Airport in Missouri was partly evacuated over a “threat” Sunday afternoon but has since resumed “normal operations,” officials said.
“The security incident at [Kansas City International Airport] is now clear and normal operations are resuming,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wrote on X.
“I want to thank law enforcement including the FBI for their timely response. The safety of our passengers, airport staff, and crew members is always our number one priority.”
Airport representative Jackson Overstreet told The Associated Press in an email that the threat was reported at 11:50 a.m. local time, at which point an entire terminal was evacuated.
He said planes that landed after the threat were being held on the taxiway until it could be fully investigated.
FBI rep Dixon Land said the bureau was “aware of the incident” and worked with “law enforcement officials to determine the credibility of a threat.”
Passenger Logan Hawley, 29, told the outlet he was getting ready to board a flight to Texas when he saw police and K-9 units swarming the terminal.
“Suddenly there was an airport worker saying ‘immediately evacuate,’ people got up fast and rushed out of there,” Hawley said.
Roughly 2,000 people were ushered out of the terminal and onto the tarmac, he said.
Photos and video from the airport circulating online show large groups of passengers being led onto the tarmac or funneling out of the terminal.
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