Kansas basketball is making a serious push to land AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1 prospect in the class of 2025. The 6-foot-9 high school standout is widely regarded as the best player in the country and has his pick of top-tier programs.

Dybantsa is currently in the midst of his official visits, narrowing his decision down to seven schools: Kansas, Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, BYU, Kansas State, and North Carolina.

Dybantsa recently visited Kansas on Sept. 6, where he received a warm welcome from Bill Self and the Jayhawks. Kansas is known for its player development and championship pedigree, and Coach Self has made Dybantsa a top priority in this recruiting class.

The visit to Allen Fieldhouse was designed to showcase the program’s rich history and competitive environment, which Self hopes will sway Dybantsa in their direction.

However, Kansas faces stiff competition from BYU and Alabama, who are considered the current favorites to land the elite recruit. Dybantsa visited North Carolina on Sept. 20 and will be visiting Alabama on Sept. 27, giving those programs further chances to make an impression.

Despite these hurdles, Kansas remains firmly in the race and will continue to pursue Dybantsa aggressively as he approaches his final decision, expected by early next year.

Bill Self has a clear vision for Dybantsa, who would thrive in Kansas’ up-tempo style and proven system for developing NBA talent. If Kansas can successfully lure Dybantsa to Lawrence, it would further solidify the Jayhawks as title contenders in 2025-26.

With the recruiting process heating up, Dybantsa’s decision is sure to be one of the most closely watched in the 2025 class. Kansas fans are hopeful that the red and blue will emerge victorious in this competitive recruiting battle.

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Just 14 words into his postgame press conference Sunday night, Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid turned from his team’s 22-17 win and pivoted to the opposition — the Atlanta Falcons and head coach Raheem Morris, who fell just short against the twice-defending Super Bowl champions.

Reid, who has over 400 wins and three Super Bowl titles as a head coach, believes the Falcons have a strong future under the leadership of Morris.

“My hat goes off to Raheem, being a new coach here — the Atlanta Falcons are in great hands,” Reid said. “They played hard, aggressive, good football on both sides of the ball.”

Perhaps nothing better represents this identity than Atlanta’s decision to go for it on 4th and 5 from the Chiefs’ 6-yard line with four minutes to play. Trailing 22-17, Morris kept his offense on the field.

“I was in four-down territory for a while there,” Morris said postgame. “We were going out there to win this football game. We didn’t come here to tie. We didn’t come here to lose. We didn’t come here to hope we win. We didn’t come here to allow Patrick Mahomes to work his magic.

“We came here to win the football game on our terms, and I lost it, so I’ll take that medicine all day.”

The Falcons failed to convert, but Reid saw the decision in a different light.

“He stayed aggressive,” Reid said of Morris. “He’s got a team that he’s training with an aggressive attitude. So that’s what they did.”

Reid’s Falcons-centric praise was echoed throughout the Chiefs’ locker room Sunday night.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes, a two-time MVP, noted the quality of Atlanta’s secondary and overall defense. The Falcons held the Chiefs to just three net yards in the second half, and Mahomes thinks Atlanta will be much improved as the year progresses.

“That’s a good football team,” Mahomes said postgame. “I expect them to get better and better because whenever you bring a lot of different pieces in, it takes a little bit to get it going throughout the season.

“But, yeah, that’s going to be a team that’s going to make a lot of noise as the season goes on.”

Kansas City’s defense was similarly complimentary of Atlanta’s offense. Chiefs defensive end George Karlaftis, who had a pair of tackles, spoke highly of Falcons running back Bijan Robinson and the rest of the unit.

“He’s a great player,” Karlaftis said about Robinson. “We had a lot of respect for him. Not just him, their O-line, their receivers, their quarterback. They’re a great team. They were tough to beat.”

Robinson had a difficult day on the ground, taking 16 carries for 31 yards, though he added a one-yard rushing score. He was dropped for a three-yard loss on the Falcons’ final offensive play, a sweep to the left on 4th and inches.

Atlanta’s ground game struggled as a whole, as Robinson and Tyler Allgeier combined for 63 yards on 23 attempts, an average of 2.7 yards per carry.

The Falcons had more success through the air, as quarterback Kirk Cousins went 20-of-29 for 230 yards, one touchdown and an interception. However, Cousins was sacked twice and hit 10 times — which Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal said was important to Kansas City’s game plan.

“It’s huge,” Chenal said postgame. “He’s a great quarterback. He’s been a very consistent quarterback, and we want to pressure more. We feel like we haven’t pressured enough the first couple of games and get him off the spot a little bit.

“Any quarterback is going to struggle if you get him off his spot and make him uncomfortable.”

The Chiefs did that, though Cousins and the Falcons still had a chance at the end — and perhaps that, not the aggressive fourth down decision, best shows the tenacity and quality Reid sees in the Morris-led Dirty Birds.

Morris, however, wants wins to back it up.

“We’re 1-2,” Morris said when asked how he evaluates the team through three weeks. “It’s pretty easy. The record assesses it for you.”

Similar to last season, the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense has required a bit of help from the defense in order to win games. Unlike the 2023-24 campaign, though, the inconsistent play of quarterback Patrick Mahomes can’t be mostly chalked up to a lack of execution or talent around him.

Sunday night’s triumph over the Atlanta Falcons was a perfect example of that. Mahomes completed 26 of 39 passes, but the two-time MVP winner amassed just 217 yards through the air with a pair of touchdowns. His 87.2 passer rating was far from what folks have grown to expect, and the eye test backs it up.

Following Kansas City’s win in Atlanta, head coach Andy Reid said his team has “a ton of things to work on” moving forward. A good chunk of that is on the offensive side of the ball, which ties back to quarterback play.

Fueled by a turnover in the first quarter, Mahomes averaged just 0.12 EPA per play against the Falcons. That made his Week 2 figure (-0.19) look impeccable, but it also trailed his Week 1 mark (0.42) by quite a bit. This middle-ground performance isn’t good enough for the Chiefs to have sustained success.

Using his early interception as proof, Mahomes believes he needs to get back to the basics. It will make him more effective in games, bringing the Chiefs’ offense along with him.

“I think just footwork stuff,” Mahomes said. “I’ve got to get my base right. I think I’m trusting my arm too much on some of those throws. Even the first throw of the game, I just kind of flicked it – kind of off-balance – and don’t hit Rashee (Rice) going down the seam there. I’ve got to get back to my fundamentals. That’s stuff that I go through sometimes [but] not usually early in the season like this. Luckily for me, I’m not playing my best football and we’re still getting wins. I’ve got to get better to make the offense better.”

Three weeks into his seventh run as the Chiefs’ full-time starter, Mahomes has thrown four interceptions. Last season, he set a career-high in that department with 14. Despite topping the 4,000-yard passing mark and tossing 27 touchdowns on the year, it was viewed as a down effort from the consensus best quarterback in football. With wideout Xavier Worthy added into the fold for this year, many expected Mahomes to approach or reach the statistical heights he had in 2022. That hasn’t been the case thus far.

Mahomes will take the wins over impressive numbers, surely, but a higher floor for him will have a better impact on the Kansas City offense. Even with the 29-year-old scuffling a bit, Rice has picked up right where he left off as a rookie. On the heels of a 12-catch, 110-yard performance, he said he loves that his quarterback thinks there’s room to improve.

“I love that, just because he’s the greatest quarterback I’ve ever played with,” Rice said. “Whenever he feels like he hasn’t had a great game, I feel the same way. We’ve just got to get back to practice so we can get better together.”

Read More: Four Takeaways from the Chiefs’ 22-17 Win Over the Falcons