KU, K-State get love from national pundits making preseason Final Four picks
Sports fans will have a nice diversion from election coverage on Tuesday night: the college men’s basketball season begins.
A number of national outlets had their writers give predictions for the 2018-19 season, and Kansas was a popular choice for making another trip to the Final Four. K-State, which made the Elite Eight last year, got some attention, too.
Here is what people were saying about the Jayhawks and Wildcats:
Four of the five CBS Sports pundits predicted KU would make the Final Four: Gary Parrish, Matt Norlander, Kyle Boone and Chip Patterson. Boone also believes the Wildcats will be in the Final Four, and wouldn’t that be fun to see the Sunflower Showdown rivals on the final weekend of the season?
Boone wrote in part: “Even without its best player, Dean Wade, Kansas State was an Elite Eight team last season. ... With length, talent and experience, this squad is going to be led with a suffocating defense that could guide it to even greater heights than last year.”
Norlander, Boone and Patterson all picked KU to win the national championship. Norlander wrote in part: “Heading into 2018-19 there is no runaway favorite, but Kansas’ roster depth, one-and-done talent, size, guard deployment and coaching figure to give Bill Self another No. 1 seed slotting come Selection Sunday. Dedric Lawson, the Memphis transfer who was a stat-stuffer in the American, has the potential to be the Player of the Year nationally. He’s got great backcourt help in senior Lagerald Vick and incoming five-star freshmen Devon Dotson and Quentin Grimes. Don’t forget about Udoka Azubuike, who might have grown so strong and imposing this offseason that he’ll be the Shaq of college basketball for 2018-19.”
You can read more here.
Five of the six Sports Illustrated writers believe the Jayhawks will be in the Final Four: Molly Geary, Max Meyer, Jake Fischer, Jeremy Wood and Emily Caron. Woo also had K-State as a dark horse to make the Final Four.
Meyer picked KU to be national champions. He wrote in part: “Kansas has a NPOY contender (Dedric Lawson) and a potential one-and-done star that could end up as a top-10 pick in the upcoming NBA draft (Quentin Grimes). The Jayhawks’ bench unit alone could probably make the NCAA tournament. Key contributors from last year’s Final Four squad Udoka Azubuike and Lagerald Vick are back.”
Dan Greene’s bold prediction: KU’s string of Big 12 titles comes to an end. He wrote in part: “(W)hile this season doesn’t seem set up for it to happen — the Jayhawks are SI’s preseason No. 1, and none of their conference colleagues are ranked in the top 10 — well, that’s what makes it bold. With the program’s continued implication in the FBI probe via testimony linking it to alleged payments to recruits and the fact that Kansas State has a strong senior led-lineup, there might be enough out of sorts in Lawrence for the Wildcats or West Virginia’s daunting frontcourt or even Jamie Dixon’s ascendant TCU to make a run at the crown.”
You can read more here.
On the flip side, SB Nation’s Mike Rutherford made 10 predictions for the season and KU winning the Big 12 title was on that list.
“No one promised that all the predictions would be bold,” Rutherford wrote.
ESPN’s 31 experts made picks for the Final Four and the national championship. KU was predicted to make the Final four by 24 of those people. Five of them picked the Jayhawks to cut down the nets as champions: Cory Anderson, LaPhonso Ellis, Jordan Cornette, Daymeon Fishback and Bob Wischusen.
Jimmy Dykes’ projected Final Four included K-State but not KU.