Former Duke star believes KU has one edge over other teams in NCAA Tournament
The Kansas men’s basketball roster includes seven players who are either a senior or a graduate student.
That includes center Hunter Dickinson, guards Dajuan Harris and Zeke Mayo, along with forward K.J. Adams. All four are expected to start Thursday when the Jayhawks face Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament.
Former Duke star Grant Hill, who is now a CBS Sports broadcaster, believes that experience could give KU an edge over other teams in the Big Dance.
“Bill Self, obviously, you know, you can’t discredit what he brings this time of year to the table,” Hill said in a conference call before the NCAA Tournament bracket was announced. “And although this season has been below expectations — which have been incredible expectations for quite some time there in Lawrence, Kansas — you have a senior team, you have an experienced team.
“Maybe not the experience of playing at Kansas together, but you have older players, which we know can certainly serve a team well during the tournament run. So I just think Bill Self, the big fellow Dickinson, the experience, they have a chance to surprise a lot of people in spite of their efforts here in the regular season.”
Play-by-play broadcaster Ian Eagle, who will call the Final Four with Hill and Bill Raftery on CBS, said KU’s aura is still strong despite falling out of the Top 25 rankings after being the preseason No. 1.
The Jayhawks, 21-12, are a seventh seed in the tournament.
“I wouldn’t want to play ‘em, I’ll tell you that right now,” Eagle said. “And they’re a prime example of where we are in college basketball. There’s a lot of preseason speculation based on talent. You have no idea how it’s going to mesh together, especially in this current climate, and Kansas, they are going to be tournament-tested because of the schedule that they played.
“So depending upon their draw, depending upon their seeding, they’re still going to be really dangerous. And if Hunter Dickinson, who has a ton of experience, goes on a roll, he’s the type of player that can go on one of these March stretches that you remember. So while it’s hard to say this, because I don’t recall saying this in quite some time, Kansas might be under the radar right now. It’s still a team that could do damage come tournament time. And Bill Self, he’s done it before. He can do it with this squad.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 10:26 AM.
