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

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CBS Sports Graphic

A week ago at this time, Kansas was on a three-game losing streak that had some questioning whether the Jayhawks were actually legitimate contenders to repeat as national champions. 

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

As I explained many times in many places last week, about 95% of college basketball’s 363 teams would be at risk of going 0-3 in a three-game stretch against Kansas State (away), TCU (home) and Baylor (away). So, sure, it was notable 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 it troubling or even slightly concerning.

And now look.

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

That’s two more than anybody else.

Despite losing four of the top five scorers from 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 first two quadrants with zero losses outside of the first quadrant. Impressive stuff. Based on the strength of that resume, the Jayhawks are up to No. 5 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. They’re one of six Big 12 schools in the top 16 of the Top 25 And 1. The others are No. 6 Texas, No. 8 Kansas State, No. 11 Iowa State, No. 12 Baylor and No. 16 TCU. 

Top 25 And 1 rankings

Biggest Movers

5 Miami (Fla.)

5 Kansas State

In: Miami, MissouriOut: Indiana, San Diego State

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