Kansas opens the 2025-26 season on Nov. 3 at home against Green Bay before its loaded nonconference slate begins. The Jayhawks have a date with North Carolina on the road to close out the first week of the college basketball season on Nov. 7. Kansas also has matchups with Duke, Notre Dame and Syracuse before the calendar turns to December.
Since coach Bill Self and company defeated North Carolina to win the program’s fourth national title in 2022, the Jayhawks have failed to make it out of the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament the last three seasons. That includes a loss in the first round of the tournament this past spring to John Calipari and Arkansas, which marked the first time Kansas lost in the opening round since 2006.
Expectations for this Kansas squad will stop and start with the play of five-star freshman phenom Darryn Peterson. The No. 1-ranked player in the 2025 recruiting cycle by 247Sports is one of the top candidates to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Self hasn’t been shy about his praise for the star combo-guard, going as far as to say that Peterson is the best player he has recruited at Kansas.
Kansas spent most of this century under Self at the top of the Big 12 standings, but since Houston joined the league in 2023, the Jayhawks have been lackluster in conference play to their standards. Kansas finished 11-9 in conference play last season after going 10-8 during Houston’s first year in the league.
NCAA to keep 2026 March Madness men’s and women’s basketball tournaments at 68 teams
Matt Norlander
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