In the single most improbable, heart-wrenching, National Championship game of all time, Kansas completed the single greatest comeback in National Championship game history. Rallying from 16 points down to number eight seed North Carolina, KU thundered back like a herd of buffalo across the plains to defeat North Carolina in the final seconds, 72-69. This was KU’s second National Championship under Head Coach Bill Self and 6th all-time. KU was led by Big 12 Player of the Year and All-American, Ochai Agbaji, as well as Seniors Christian Braun, David Mccormick, and tournament hero Remy Martin. KU is notorious for coming up just short in March, making this hurdle even sweeter for KU fans. 

That being said, KU is back and primed and ready to defend that title. While most of last year’s team is gone, KU still returns senior forward Jalen Wilson who averaged 12 points per year last year. Wilson is ready to take a giant leap this year and is a potential National Player of the Year candidate. Along with Wilson, KU returns starting point guard and lockdown defender Dajuan Harris Jr., The Jayhawks are also bringing in five-star recruit and sharpshooter Grady Dick, along with four-star recruits Ernest Udeh Jr. (6’10, 230), and sophomore MJ Rice. However, the biggest addition is sharpshooter-lockdown defender and one of the top transfers in the nation, Kevin McCuller Jr., who averaged 10 points per game for conference for Texas Tech last year. 

KU opens the year on Monday, November 7th against Omaha, then follow that up by playing North Dakota State and Duke, but head coach Bill Self is suspended for recruiting violations that occurred all the way back in 2019. Despite this as well as losing a lot of key players from last year’s team, KU is arguably the best defensive team in the country. Dajuan Harris and McCullers are leading this charge respectively, as both are arguably the best defensive players in the nation. 

The last team to win back to back national titles was Florida in 2007 and 2008, but even they brought back key pieces. KU didn’t and yet somehow still managed to rebuild and potentially make another run, making this season all the more impressive if they could manage to repeat and defend that title this year.