Kansas basketball bold predictions: Is this the season Bill Self earns 3rd national title?

LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball is about to embark on a 2024-25 season in which it starts as the No. 1 team in the nation.

The Jayhawks are once again led by head coach Bill Self, who’s already won a pair of national titles with the program during his more-than-two-decade-long tenure in Lawrence. They have a trio of veteran returning starters in graduate center Hunter Dickinson, graduate guard Dajuan Harris Jr. and senior forward KJ Adams Jr. In addition to the players they’ve returned from last season’s squad, they’ve added a significant amount of talent both through the transfer portal and high school ranks.

Kansas has to navigate a new-look Big 12 Conference this season. To enjoy the postseason success it’s looking for, it very well could have to knock off two-time-defending champion UConn and other contenders. It’s shaping up to be another enthralling edition of a college basketball season.

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Here are a few bold predictions for Kansas basketball this season:

Kansas adds 3rd national championship of Bill Self’s tenure

Kansas has had national championship contenders the past couple of years, following its latest national championship in 2022. But the Jayhawks have, for a multitude of reasons, failed to get out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament in back-to-back seasons. That should change this season, as Self and company make another run to the Final Four.

Considering Kansas is entering the season as the No. 1 team in the nation, it might not seem all that bold to predict the Jayhawks are going to win a national championship. But so much has to go right for a team to be able to reach that point. Think about how many teams had the chance to do what Self’s team did in 2022, or in 2008, before coming up short.

Hunter Dickinson is named national player of the year

Dickinson’s health has been a talking point during the preseason this year, just as it was at times last season. He didn’t play in either of Kansas’ exhibition games, on the road against Arkansas and at home against Washburn, as the Jayhawks continued to get him ready for the regular season. But for the team to enjoy the success it has the talent to earn this season, he very well could have to play at more than the All-America level he’s capable of — and he can.

Dickinson was named the preseason Big 12 player of the year for a reason. He’s viewed as an All-America candidate for a reason. As long as he can stay healthy, and deliver as he did so often last season, he can leave college with one of the sports’ storied accolades.

1 of Flory Bidunga, Rakease Passmore makes Big 12’s all-freshman team

Kansas is on a run of players making the Big 12’s all-freshman team, including Johnny Furphy last season and Gradey Dick the season before that. But while one might think the veteran roster the Jayhawks possess might make it difficult for that streak to continue, think again. Both forward Flory Bidunga and guard Rakease Passmore are in line for roles this season, and they have the potential to further entrench themselves in the rotation as the season unfolds.

It’s more than likely that neither becomes a starter for Kansas this season. However, production can overcome whether or not Bidunga or Passmore is in the starting lineup when it’s announced inside Allen Fieldhouse or another arena. When Adams earned a spot on the Big 12’s all-freshman team for the 2021-22 season, he had started just one game all season long.

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball bold predictions: Bill Self national title contender