Kansas Jayhawks Men's Basketball
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The Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball program of the
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
. The program is classified in the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
's Division I and the team competes in the
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...
. Kansas is renowned for having one of the most prestigious and historic intercollegiate basketball programs in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
. In the
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, Kansas has six overall national championships (4 NCAA Tournament National Championships and 2 Helms National Championships), as well as being runner-up six times and having the most conference titles in the nation. The Jayhawks own the NCAA record for most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with 28 consecutive appearances. Since the 1984 tournament, the Jayhawks have only missed the tournament twice due to disciplinary action from the NCAA; they were ruled ineligible for the 1989 tournament and 2018 being vacated. They have not missed the tournament strictly due to on the court performance since the 1983 tournament. They were also, along with Dartmouth, the first team to appear in multiple NCAA Tournaments after making their second appearance in the 1942 tournament. The Jayhawks had been ranked in the AP poll for 231 consecutive polls, a streak that had stretched from the poll released on February 2, 2009, through the poll released on February 8, 2021, which is the longest streak in AP poll history. Of the 28 seasons the Big 12 conference has been in existence, Kansas has won at least a share of 21 regular-season conference titles. The Jayhawks' first coach was the inventor of basketball,
James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Scottish-Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United State ...
. Naismith, ironically, is the only coach in Kansas basketball history with a losing record. The Kansas basketball program has produced many notable professional players, including
Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...
,
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
, Jo Jo White,
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
,
Raef LaFrentz Raef Andrew LaFrentz (born May 29, 1976) is an American former professional basketball Power forward (basketball), power forward and Center (basketball), center who played for the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, and Portland Tra ...
,
Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Boston Celtics. As of September 2024, he is a contributo ...
,
Nick Collison Nicholas John Collison (born October 26, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a special assistant for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He spent his entire career with the organi ...
, Kirk Hinrich,
Mario Chalmers Almario Vernard Chalmers (born May 19, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Zamboanga Valientes of the Asian Tournament (TAT). He was selected as the 34th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Minnesota ...
, Andrew Wiggins, and
Joel Embiid Joel Hans Embiid ( ; born 16 March 1994) is a Cameroonian and American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks men's ...
. Politician
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...
also played basketball at Kansas. Former players that have gone on to be coaches include
Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach and physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 β€“ December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...
,
Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...
, Dutch Lonborg, and former assistants to go on to be notable coaches include
John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (; born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball, University of Arkansas. He has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times (1996, 2 ...
,
Gregg Popovich Gregg Charles Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American professional basketball executive and former coach who is the president for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the List of current NBA head co ...
, and
Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...
. Mark Turgeon,
Jerod Haase Jerod Albert Haase (born April 1, 1974) is an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach for Stanford Cardinal men's team of the Pac-12 Conference from 2016 to 2024. Haase played college basketball at the University of Californi ...
,
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
, and Tad Boyle are all former players and assistant coaches that became head coaches. Allen founded the
National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the men's basketball head coach for the Univ ...
and, with Lonborg, was an early proponent of the NCAA tournament. Four different Jayhawk head coaches are in the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...
as coaches, Phog Allen, Larry Brown, Roy Williams, and current head coach Bill Self. Three different Division I basketball arenas have been named after former Kansas players, the Dean Smith Center named after Dean Smith at North Carolina,
Rupp Arena Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center is an arena located in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Since its opening in 1976, it has been the centerpiece of Central Bank Center (formerly Lexington Center), a convention and shopping facility ...
named after Adolph Rupp at Kentucky, and the Jayhawks’ own arena Allen Fieldhouse named after Phog Allen. In 2008,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
ranked Kansas second on a list of the most prestigious programs of the modern college basketball era. Kansas currently has the longest streak of consecutive NCAA tournament appearances of all-time (28), the longest current streak of consecutive NCAA winning seasons (41), the most winning seasons in Division I history (105), the most non-losing seasons (.500 or better) in NCAA history (107), the most conference championships in Division I history (63), tied for the most consecutive regular-season conference titles in Division I (13), the most First-Team All-Americans in Division I history (24), and the most First-Team All-American selections in Division I history (31). As of the last complete season, the program ranks third in Division I all-time winning percentage (.729) and second in Division I all-time wins (2,393). Since the opening of
Allen Fieldhouse Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena on the University of Kansas (KU) campus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is home of the Kansas Jayhawks men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is named after Phog Allen, a former player and head coach for th ...
, the Jayhawks’ home arena, in 1955, the Jayhawks have earned a well established home court advantage. Allen Fieldhouse is often considered one of the best home court advantages in college basketball. As of 2024, the Jayhawks have won over 87 percent of their games in the 69-year history of Allen Fieldhouse, losing just 118 games. Under current head coach Bill Self, the Jayhawks have had three home court winning streaks over 30 games and two over 50 games. In addition to Allen Fieldhouse, the Jayhawks frequently play games at the nearby
T-Mobile Center T-Mobile Center (formerly Sprint Center) is a multi-purpose arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It is located at the intersection of 14th Street and Grand Boulevard on the east side of the Power & Light District. It has ef ...
(formerly Sprint Center) in
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
. These games, while technically a neutral site, are officially considered home games when not part of a tournament, the only exception being their games at the arena during their six-game series with rival
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
.


History

Kansas ranks first all-time in NCAA Division I wins with 2,357 wins (as of the last complete season), against 877 losses (.729 all time winning %, third all-time). This record includes a 765–110 (.874) mark at historic
Allen Fieldhouse Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena on the University of Kansas (KU) campus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is home of the Kansas Jayhawks men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is named after Phog Allen, a former player and head coach for th ...
. The Jayhawks are first in NCAA history with 98 winning seasons, and tied for first in NCAA history with 101 non-losing (.500 or better) seasons with Kentucky. Kansas is tied for the fewest head coaches (8) of any program that has played since the 19th century, yet has reached the Final Four under more head coaches (6) than any other program in the nation. Every head coach at Kansas since the inception of the NCAA Tournament has led the program to the Final Four. Kansas has had four head coaches inducted into the
Naismith Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pres ...
, more than any other program in the nation. A perennial conference powerhouse, Kansas leads Division I all-time in regular season conference titles with 62 in 113 years of conference play (the MVIAA Conference was created in 1907) through the 2019–20 regular season. The Jayhawks have won a record 20 conference titles and a record 11 conference tournament titles in the 24 years of the
Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...
's existence. The program also owns the best
Big 12 The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Okla ...
records in both those areas with a 412–102 record in conference play and a 46–12 record in tournament play. The Jayhawks won their 2,000th game in school history when they defeated Texas Tech in the 2009–2010 season, joining the University of Kentucky and the University of North Carolina as the only schools to boast such an achievement at that time.


James Naismith era (1898–1907)

The men's basketball program officially began in 1898, following the arrival of Dr. James Naismith to the school, just six years after Naismith had written the sport's first official rules. Naismith was initially hired to be a chapel director and physical education instructor, but became the head basketball coach. The Jayhawks played their first game on February 3, 1899, against the Kansas City YMCA, a game they lost 5–16. They would win their first game a week later on February 10 in a 31–6 victory over the Topeka YMCA. Their first intercollegiate game was played on March 23 against
Haskell Haskell () is a general-purpose, statically typed, purely functional programming language with type inference and lazy evaluation. Designed for teaching, research, and industrial applications, Haskell pioneered several programming language ...
, a school about two miles southeast of the southeastern edge of the University of Kansas. They would finish their first season 7–4. During the programs early years, the majority of the university's basketball games were played against nearby
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
teams, with YMCAs across the nation having played an integral part in the birth of basketball. Other common opponents were Haskell and William Jewell. Under Naismith, the team began their rivalries with Kansas State, later deemed the Sunflower Showdown and
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
, later deemed the Border War (officially changed to Border Showdown in 2004). Naismith was, ironically, the only coach in the program's history to have a losing record (55–60). Including his years as coach, Naismith served as the athletic director and a faculty member at Kansas for a total of almost 40 years before retiring in 1937. Naismith died in 1939, and his remains are buried in
Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...
. The basketball court in Allen Fieldhouse is named James Naismith Court. Beyond inventing the game, his next greatest basketball legacy may be his coaching tree, whose two trunks are the well-known Phog Allen and Kansas native John McLendon. (McLendon attended KU in the 1930s when Allen was head coach. Although McLendon tried out for the team, he never played for Allen. Naismith mentored McLendon from his arrival at Kansas through degree completion and beyond.) On December 10, 2010, the David Booth family purchased Dr. James Naismith's 13 Original Rules of the game at a Sotheby's auction in New York City for the sum of $4.3 million. They brought the founding document of basketball back to KU's Lawrence campus, where it is currently housed at the DeBruce Center.


Phog Allen/William O. Hamilton era (1907–1956)

In 1907, Kansas hired one of Naismith's players, Dr. Forrest C. "Phog" Allen as head coach. Naismith provided Allen with a now infamous piece of wisdom: "You can't coach basketball; you just play it." Allen would set out to prove the adage wrong and through success and an unrivaled coaching tree has become known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching", having passed on his knowledge of the game to some of the most well-respected names in the history of college basketball, including National Basketball Hall of Fame coaches
Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 β€“ December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...
,
Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...
, Dutch Lonborg and
Ralph Miller Ralph H. Miller (March 9, 1919 – May 15, 2001) was an American college basketball coach, a head coach for 38 years at three universities: Wichita (now known as Wichita State), Iowa, and Oregon State. With an overall record of , his teams had ...
(all except Lonborg were born and raised in Kansas). Allen coached the team from 1907 to 1909, but William O. Hamilton coached from 1909 to 1919, with Allen taking over again in 1919. The team went 125–59 and won five conference championships under Hamilton's direction. Allen coached KU for 39 seasons and amassed a record of 590–219, with two retroactively-awarded
Helms Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...
national titles and one NCAA Tournament championship in 1952. Numerous basketball greats would play at Kansas during Allen's era, including
Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...
,
Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 β€“ December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...
, Dutch Lonborg, and
Ralph Miller Ralph H. Miller (March 9, 1919 – May 15, 2001) was an American college basketball coach, a head coach for 38 years at three universities: Wichita (now known as Wichita State), Iowa, and Oregon State. With an overall record of , his teams had ...
(all future Hall of Fame coaches), Paul Endacott, Bill Johnson, and
Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...
(Hall of Fame players), two-time Olympic Gold Medalist Bill Hougland, and even former United States
Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and people of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as chief spokespersons for their respective political parties, holding the ...
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...
. In 1952, the Jayhawks won the national title with an 80–63 victory in the final game over St. John's, coached by
Frank McGuire Frank Joseph McGuire (November 8, 1913 – October 11, 1994) was an American basketball coach. At the collegiate level, he was head coach for three major programs: St. John's, North Carolina, and South Carolina, winning over a hundred games at ...
. Clyde Lovellette of Kansas was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and is still the only player to lead the nation in scoring and lead his team to a national title in the same year. This tournament was the first to have a true "Final Four" format. Seven members of the championship team represented the United States in the
1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...
and brought home a gold medal for the national basketball team. This was especially poignant for Allen, as he had been the driving force for having basketball added to the Olympics in 1936. Allen was forced to retire when he turned 70 in 1956, because of a university policy requiring school employees to retire at 70. Allen had recruited legendary
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
to Kansas, but would not get to coach him because freshmen were not eligible to play varsity basketball in 1956.


Dick Harp era (1956–1964)

Following Allen's retirement, the Jayhawks hired former KU player and assistant, Dick Harp. Under Harp the Jayhawks went 121–82 with two conference titles and two NCAA tournament berths.
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
played his varsity years under Harp, making his job a rather easy one for the first two seasons. In his first varsity game, Chamberlain scored 52 points and grabbed 31 rebounds, breaking both all-time college records in an 87–69 win against Northwestern. In 1957, he led the Jayhawks to the championship game against
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
, coached by Frank McGuire, whom they had defeated in the 1952 title game when McGuire was at St. John's. McGuire triple-teamed Chamberlain and, as a result, KU was defeated 54–53 in triple overtime. The game is considered one of the greatest in NCAA history. Chamberlain continued to average 30+ points per game until leaving KU early to play professionally with the
Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...
.


Ted Owens era (1964–1983)

Ted Owens took over for Harp in 1964, and would go 348–128 during his tenure, eventually winning six Big Eight Conference titles. The team advanced to NCAA postseason play seven times under Owens. The 1971 team went 27–3 and advanced to the Final Four before losing to UCLA. In 1974 the team went 23–7 and again advanced to the Final Four before losing to Marquette. During this era the program produced All-Americans such as Jo Jo White, Walt Wesley, Bud Stallworth,
Darnell Valentine Darnell Terrell Valentine (born February 3, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life Valentine was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Wi ...
, and
Dave Robisch David George Robisch (born December 22, 1949) is a retired American professional basketball player in the ABA and NBA. Robisch played at the University of Kansas, where he was initiated into the Sigma Nu fraternity. He was positioned at center a ...
. After 19 years of coaching at
University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...
, Owens was fired following the 1982–83 season after the Jayhawks posted back-to-back losing seasons.


Larry Brown era (1983–1988)

In 1983, Larry Brown headed to the University of Kansas, after coaching in the NBA. Under Brown, Kansas finished first in the Big Eight in 1986, and second in 1984, 1985, and 1987. In 1988, Kansas got off to a 12–8 start, including 1–4 in the Big 8. The Jayhawks' 55-game homecourt winning streak in Allen Fieldhouse was snapped with a loss to rival Kansas State, and they would also lose two more home games to Duke and Oklahoma. Behind the high-scoring of
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
, KU finished 21–11 at the end of the season and entered the NCAA tournament as a #6 seed. Two early upsets allowed them to face lower seeds, gain momentum, and advance. The Jayhawks would ultimately go on to face the three teams who had given them their three home losses that season. They defeated rival Kansas State in the Elite 8, then defeated Duke in the Final 4, and won the national championship, defeating favored conference rival Oklahoma 83–79 in the final. The 11 losses Kansas accrued in 1988 are more than any other national champion have before or since. The win garnered the team the nickname "Danny and the Miracles". Earlier, near the start of the tournament, Dick Vitale had been asked about Kansas's chances and commented "If Kansas wins, I'll kiss the Jayhawk on the floor of Allen Fieldhouse." Eventually, he did make good on his promise. During Brown's tenure, Kansas had five NCAA Tournament appearances, which included two second round appearances, one Sweet 16 appearance, two trips to the Final Four and the national championship. He also compiled a 135–44 (.754) overall record. Brown left under a cloud, as NCAA sanctions and a postseason probation were levied against Kansas following Brown's departure in the 1988–1989 season as a result of recruiting violations that took place during Brown's tenure. The major violation was a plane ticket home for potential transfer
Vincent Askew Vincent Jerome Askew (born February 28, 1966) is an American former professional basketball player who played for nine seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for eight different teams. A 6'6" guard-forward, Askew played college bas ...
to see his sick grandmother. Prior to the investigation, Askew had already decided not to transfer to Kansas.


Roy Williams era (1988–2003)

Shortly following Brown's departure, Kansas hired then North Carolina assistant Roy Williams as head coach. From 1988 to 2003, under the direction of Williams, the Jayhawks had a record of 418–101, a .805 winning percentage. Williams' Kansas teams averaged 27.8 wins per season. Except for his first season at Kansas (when the team was on probation), all of Williams' teams made the NCAA tournament. On Roy's first KU team Patrick Richey, Adonis Jordan and Richard Scott could not visit campus because of recruiting violations by Larry Brown, so they committed sight unseen. From 1990 to 1999 Kansas compiled a 286–60 record, giving them both the most wins and best winning percentage of any team in that decade. From 1994 to 1998, the Jayhawks won 62 consecutive home games at Allen Fieldhouse, which was the longest such streak in the NCAA at the time. The seniors of 1998 (
Raef LaFrentz Raef Andrew LaFrentz (born May 29, 1976) is an American former professional basketball Power forward (basketball), power forward and Center (basketball), center who played for the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, and Portland Tra ...
, Billy Thomas, and C.B. McGrath) went 58–0 at home during their KU careers. Kansas won nine regular-season conference championships over Williams' last 13 years. In seven years of Big 12 Conference play, his teams went 94–18, capturing the regular-season title in 1997, 1998, 2002 and 2003 and the postseason tournament crown in 1997, 1998 and 1999. In 2001–02, KU became the first, and so far only, team to go undefeated (16–0) in Big 12 play. From 1995 to 1998, Kansas was a combined 123–17 – an average of 30.8 wins per season. Williams' teams went 201–17 (.922) in Allen Fieldhouse, and won 62 consecutive games in Allen from February 1994 to December 1998. Kansas was a regular in the Associated Press Top 25 from 1991 to 1999, placing in the poll for 145 consecutive weeks. Williams' teams were ranked in the Top 10 in 194 AP polls from 1990. Kansas led the nation in field goal percentage and scoring in 2002 and in scoring margin in 2003, held opponents to the lowest field goal percentage in the country in 2001 (37.8 percent), and led the nation in winning percentage in 1997 and 2002. The team shot better than 50 percent from the floor for seven different seasons under Williams and led the country in field goal percentage in 1990 (53.3) and 2002 (50.6). Williams' teams shot a combined 49.4 percent from the floor during his tenure. Williams-coached teams led the nation in assists in 2001 and 2002 and were seventh in the nation in 2003; scored 100 or more points 71 times (once every 13 games); averaged 82.7 points per game over his 15 seasons as coach; and averaged 90 or more points per game in two seasons (92.1 in 1990 and 90.9 in 2002). The Jayhawks were in the AP Top 25 in 242 of 268 weekly polls, reached the No. 1 ranking in the country in six different seasons, and reached at least No. 2 in the nation in 11 of William's 15 seasons as head coach at Kansas. Under Williams, the team had several deep runs in the NCAA Tournament, making it to four Final Fours and appearing in the national championship game in both 1991 and 2003, losing both, to Duke and Syracuse respectively. Amidst the tournament successes, there were plenty of woes. The 1996–97 team was said by many to be one of the greatest teams in history, featuring future NBA players such as
Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Boston Celtics. As of September 2024, he is a contributo ...
, Jacque Vaughn,
Raef LaFrentz Raef Andrew LaFrentz (born May 29, 1976) is an American former professional basketball Power forward (basketball), power forward and Center (basketball), center who played for the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, and Portland Tra ...
, Greg Orstertag, and Scot Pollard. The team was upset in the Sweet Sixteen by the eventual champion, Arizona Wildcats. The Jayhawks advanced to the Final Four in 2002 & 2003. Following the national championship loss in 2003, Williams left Kansas and returned to coach at his
alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...
, North Carolina.


Bill Self era (2003–present)

Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...
was introduced as the new head coach for the 2003–04 season and in his first season at Kansas, Self inherited Williams' players and recruits, which often caused turmoil as the style of play differed between the two coaches. Nevertheless, Self led his new Kansas team to the Elite Eight at the NCAA tournament his first year. KU in 2004–05 was led by seniors Wayne Simien, Keith Langford, Michael Lee, and Aaron Miles. They began the season ranked #1 and started off 20–1, but then they slumped and lost six of their final nine games, including a loss to Bucknell in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The team finished 23–7 and settled for a Big 12 co-championship with
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
. In 2005–06, little was expected of the freshman/sophomore-dominated Jayhawks, and they began the season 10–6, including 1–2 in the Big 12. Although they did post a 73–46 win over
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
, they also saw the end of their 31-game winning streak over rival Kansas State with a 59–55 loss at Allen Fieldhouse, and two nights later blew a seven-point lead in the final 45 seconds of regulation en route to an 89–86 overtime loss at
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
. But afterward, the Jayhawks matured rapidly, winning 15 of their final 17 games and avenging the losses to both Kansas State and Missouri. KU played as the #2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament in Dallas, and avenged an earlier loss to Texas with an 80–68 victory over the Longhorns in the final to clinch the tournament championship and the highlight win of the season. KU was handed a #4 seed for the NCAA Tournament but stumbled again in the first round with a loss to the
Bradley Braves The Bradley Braves are the intercollegiate athletics teams of Bradley University, located in Peoria, Illinois, United States. The Braves' athletic program is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) and competes at the Division I (NCAA), ...
. In the 2006–07 season, Self led
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
to the 2007 Big 12 regular-season championship with a 14–2 record, highlighted by beating the
Kevin Durant Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988), also known by his initials KD, is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Durant has won two List of NBA champions, NBA champ ...
-led Texas Longhorns in come-from-behind victories in the last game of the regular season and in the Big 12 Championship game. At the end of the regular season, Kansas stood at 27–4 and ranked #2 in the nation in both the AP and coaches' polls. Kansas received a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but their tournament run ended in the Elite Eight with a loss to 2-seed
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
. In the 2007–08 season, Self's
Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
team began the season 20–0 until they suffered their first loss at rival Kansas State, their first loss at Kansas State since 1983. The 2008 Jayhawks won the Big 12 regular-season title and the Big 12 conference tourney. They received a number-one seeding in the NCAA tournament in the Midwest region. On March 30, 2008, Self led Kansas to a win in an Elite Eight game over upstart
Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...
. KU won by two, 59–57. The Jayhawks played overall number 1 tournament seed
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
in the semifinals, a team coached by former KU head man Roy Williams. The Jayhawks opened the game with a 40–12 run over the first 12Β½ minutes before finally defeating them 84–66. On April 7, 2008, the Jayhawks triumphed over a one-loss Memphis team to claim the national title. With only seconds on the clock, Sherron Collins drove the ball the length of the court and threaded a pass to Mario Chalmers, who connected on a deep three-pointer to force overtime. This shot would later come to be known as "Mario's Miracle" in a nod to 1988 championship nickname "Danny and the Miracles". Kansas then outplayed Memphis in the overtime to win the NCAA Championship game, 75–68. The Jayhawks finished the season with a 37–3 record, the winningest season in Kansas history. In the 2008–09 season, despite losing seven of their top nine scorers and the entire starting line-up, the Jayhawks earned their 20th consecutive NCAA tournament bid after going 25–7 (14–2), winning the conference regular season title and extending their home winning streak to 41 straight at Allen Fieldhouse. On March 22, 2009, Kansas defeated
Dayton Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...
, advancing to their 3rd consecutive Sweet 16 appearance. But the Jayhawks' season ended on March 27 when
Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...
came from behind in the final minute to defeat Kansas 67–62, ending their year at 27–8. Coach Self's record, after 6 seasons with the Jayhawks, was 169–40, an .809 percentage. After the season, Self was named National Coach of the Year by the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
,
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...
'
Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...
Award, USBWA (
Henry Iba Award The Henry Iba Award was established in 1959 to recognize the best college basketball coach of the year by the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). Five nominees are presented and the individual with the most votes receives the ...
), and
Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...
. On April 13, Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich announced their intent to return for the 2009–10 season. On April 23, top high school recruit
Xavier Henry Xavier Henry (; born March 15, 1991) is an American former professional basketball player. He played one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks before he was drafted in the 2010 NBA draft by the Mem ...
made his commitment to play at Kansas in the fall, prompting
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
to name the Jayhawks as "the team to beat in 2009–10." By the time the fall of 2009 arrived, Kansas was the unanimous preseason #1 team in all major publications. The Jayhawks finished the regular season with a 29–2 record and continue to hold the Division I record for the current consecutive home winning streak at 59 straight games in Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas passed 2,000 all-time wins in the 2009–10 season, only the third school to do so (finishing the season with a total of 2,003 all-time victories). They won the Big 12 tournament on March 13, clinching their 21st consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, an active NCAA record. However, despite being named the overall #1 seed in the tournament, the Jayhawks fell in the second round to #9-seeded Northern Iowa, finishing the season at 33–3. Recruiting began immediately for the 2010–11 season, as Kansas landed the nation's top recruit Josh Selby in April. By September 2010, both The
Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...
and Athlon Sports had ranked Kansas in their pre-season outlook as #4 overall and, along with ESPN's Joe Lunardi, were projected to become a #1 seed again in the 2011 NCAA Tournament, which they would again earn. Blue Ribbon and the USA Today/ESPN coaches polls both placed Kansas at #7 in the pre-season poll. Josh Selby, became eligible and joined the Jayhawk line-up on December 18. On March 5, the Jayhawks beat Missouri 70–66 to clinch the Big 12 regular-season title for the 7th consecutive time and later went on to finish 29–2 during the regular season, ranked #2 in both the AP Poll and the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. Bill Self was named Big 12 Coach of the Year and Marcus Morris was named Big 12 Player of the Year. The Jayhawks defeated 16 seed Boston University, 9 seed Illinois and 12 seed Richmond to reach their 3rd Elite Eight in the past 5 seasons before falling to 11 seed Virginia Commonwealth University in the quarterfinal game. During the season, Kansas moved past North Carolina as the 2nd winningest basketball program in history. After being considered the top team but falling short in both of the previous two seasons, Kansas lost six of their top 8 scorers for the 2011–12 season. The Jayhawks had to rebuild after winning seven straight Big 12 titles. Prior to the season, the NCAA declared that three of the Jayhawks top recruits were ineligible for the season, which included games against perennial powerhouse programs such as Kentucky, Duke, Ohio State, and Georgetown. Despite 7 games against top 10 ranked opponents, Kansas finished the regular season 26–5, earned their 8th consecutive Big 12 title, and advanced to their 14th Final Four in school history. The Jayhawks faced another 2 seed, the Ohio State Buckeyes, in the National Semifinals, and came back from a 13-point first-half deficit to win the game, 64–62. They then faced the Kentucky Wildcats, who had beaten the Louisville Cardinals on the other side of the bracket, in the championship game. Kansas lost to the Wildcats, 67–59. Kansas entered the 2012–13 season with eight straight Big 12 titles in tow. They ended the season having won 107 of their last 109 games at home. After scoring their ninth consecutive title and winning the Big 12 tournament championship by defeating rival Kansas State for the third time that season, KU set its sights on a sixth national title. They were seeded #1 in the South bracket, defeating Western Kentucky and North Carolina before losing in overtime to Michigan 87–85 in the Sweet 16. With star freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid on the roster, Kansas entered the 2013–14 season as the #5 team in the country. They started off well with five straight wins, including a victory over Duke in the Champions' Classic. However, the team went 4–4 over its next eight games, including back-to-back losses to Colorado and Florida and an ugly home loss to San Diego State. The team recovered from this rough stretch and began Big 12 play with seven straight wins, ultimately finishing 14–4 to win its 10th consecutive Big 12 title. A back injury to Joel Embiid, however, left the Jayhawks vulnerable on their interior defense, and they fizzled out at season's end with four losses in their final seven games, including a loss to Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals in Kansas City and an NCAA Tournament Round of 32 loss to Stanford to end the year. Kansas concluded the year 25–10, the first ten-loss season for Kansas since Roy Williams' 1999–2000 Jayhawks went 24–10. After the exodus of Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid to the NBA draft, the Jayhawks reloaded with freshmen Kelly Oubre Jr. and Cliff Alexander, the Jayhawks looked poised for another Big 12 season title, which would be their 11th straight. After a loss in the Champions Classic to Kentucky, the Jayhawks finished 11–2 in the non-conference. In what many regarded as the toughest conference in the nation (Big 12) the Jayhawks won their 11th straight title outright with a record of 13–5, having lost a strong post presence in Cliff Alexander due to an investigation by the NCAA of improper benefits being given to Alexander. Evidence never clearly materialized, but Alexander was held out and played his last game as a Jayhawk at Kansas State, where they lost by 7. They then lost in the Big 12 Championship game to Iowa State 70–66, and had a final record going into the tournament of 26–8. The Jayhawks were given a 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where they ousted 15 seed New Mexico State by 19 points, but exited the tournament early at the hands of Wichita State by 13 points. Both Oubre Jr. and Alexander declared for the draft shortly after the conclusion of the NCAA tournament. The 2015–16 Jayhawks, led by Perry Ellis and Frank Mason, won a 12th consecutive Big 12 title and won the Big 12 Tournament. Seeded #1 in the NCAA South Region, the Jayhawks reached the Elite Eight, where they stumbled against #2 seed Villanova, the eventual national champions. In 2016–17, behind the leadership of national player of the year Frank Mason, the Jayhawks won a 13th consecutive Big 12 title, tying UCLA's record for most consecutive conference titles. Although the team made an early exit from the Big 12 Tournament with a quarterfinal loss to TCU, the Jayhawks got the #1 seed in the NCAA Midwest Region. They dominated UC-Davis, Michigan State, and Purdue in their first three games, but ran into a buzzsaw against Oregon in the Elite Eight. The 2017–18 Jayhawks lost a number of players to graduation, the NBA Draft, and transfer; but appeared to be poised for another spectacular season. Star freshman Billy Preston was sidelined by an NCAA inquiry into the financial picture surrounding his car, and ultimately left the team to play professional basketball in Europe. Kansas won its first seven games before losing in Kansas City to Washington and at home to Arizona State. Kansas would lose a total of three home games during the season, the most for any Bill Self-coached Kansas team, and the most since losing three home games in the 1998–99 season. The season bottomed out in early February with a home loss to Oklahoma State and a 16-point loss at Baylor. But Kansas rallied to win a 14th straight Big 12 title, breaking UCLA's record. Then they defeated West Virginia to win the Big 12 Tournament. Seeded #1 in the NCAA Midwest Region, the Jayhawks defeated Penn, Seton Hall, Clemson, and Duke to reach Bill Self's third Final Four appearance and the program's 15th overall. However, they stumbled against Villanova for the second time in three years. As with their last outing, Villanova wound up as the college champions. On October 11, 2023, the NCAA would rule that Kansas would vacate the 15 wins in which Silvio De Souza played during that season, Big 12 Tournament title, NCAA appearance and their Final Four appearance due NCAA violations. Kansas played in the 2015 World University Games in South Korea as the United States representatives in July 2015. The Jayhawks went undefeated in the World University Games, winning the championship to give the United States its first gold medal in World University Games men's basketball since 2005. In August 2017, Self and the Jayhawks traveled to Italy to play four exhibition matches against local professional Italian teams. Shortly before the 2019–20 season began the NCAA announced they had major NCAA violations stemming from their involvement in the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball corruption scandal putting their NCAA record consecutive tournament appearance streak in jeopardy. The Jayhawks finished the 2019–20 regular season 28–3 and were unanimously ranked number one in the final regular season AP poll. The Jayhawks went undefeated against unranked teams, and their three losses came to ranked teams. The Jayhawks were a favorite to win the NCAA Tournament, but the tournament was cancelled on March 12, 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. The following season, the Jayhawks struggled early in the conference schedule. After eight games, they had a 4–4 conference record. At one point during conference play, they lost five of seven games which included a 3-game losing streak, a rarity under Self. They would finish the regular season the season winning seven of their last eight games, including a 71–58 defeat of number 2 ranked Baylor, who was undefeated going into the game. Kansas withdrew from the Big 12 tournament after a player tested positive for COVID-19. They qualified for the tournament, extending their NCAA record to 31 consecutive tournaments. They defeated Eastern Washington in the first round. The following round, they were beaten by USC 51–85, their worst NCAA Tournament loss in school history and one of the worst defeats in program history. On April 2, 2021, Kansas signed Self to a lifetime contract. The contract will automatically add an extra year to every year he coaches until he retires or dies. The 2021–22 team earned a number 1 seed in the 2022 NCAA tournament. They defeated Providence in the tournament to become the winningest program in the nation. They defeated Villanova in the Final Four. The Jayhawks defeated North Carolina 72–69 in the national championship game to win Self's second championship, and the team's fourth NCAA championship. In the championship game, they completed a 16-point comeback, including being down 40–25 at halftime, the largest in NCAA championship history.


Conference affiliations

Kansas has been affiliated with the following conferences:


Rank in notable areas


Notable games

* On February 3, 1899, the Jayhawks, coached by
James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Scottish-Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United State ...
played their first game in program history. They played the Kansas City YMCA in a game the Jayhawks lost 5–16. * The first victory in program history came on February 10, 1899. The Jayhawks defeated the Topeka YMCA 31–6. * On January 25, 1907, the Jayhawks played Kansas State for the first time beginning the rivalry that would become known as the Sunflower Showdown, a nod to the state flower of Kansas and one of the state's nicknames, the
Sunflower The common sunflower (''Helianthus annuus'') is a species of large annual forb of the daisy family Asteraceae. The common sunflower is harvested for its edible oily seeds, which are often eaten as a snack food. They are also used in the pr ...
State. The Jayhawks won 54–49. * The Jayhawks bitter rivalry with
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
began on March 11, 1907, a game the Jayhawks lost 31–34. The rivalry would eventually become known as the Border War. * On March 22, 1940, the Jayhawks played their first ever NCAA Tournament game. They defeated Rice 50–44 in Municipal Auditorium in
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...
. The Jayhawks would defeat USC the following day to make their first national championship game appearance, but lost to Indiana 42–60. * On March 26, 1952, the Jayhawks defeated St. John's (NY) 80–63 to win their first NCAA Tournament National Championship Championship in program history. * On March 1, 1955, Kansas played their first ever game at
Allen Fieldhouse Allen Fieldhouse is an indoor arena on the University of Kansas (KU) campus in Lawrence, Kansas. It is home of the Kansas Jayhawks men's and women's basketball teams. The arena is named after Phog Allen, a former player and head coach for th ...
. The arena was named after Phog Allen, who was still their coach at the time. They won the game against rival Kansas State, 77–67. * In the NCAA title game in 1957,
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
and Kansas were defeated by the North Carolina Tar Heels 54–53 in triple overtime in what many consider to be the greatest NCAA Championship game ever played. Chamberlain was later named the NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player, the second to win the award and be a part of the losing team (Kansas's B.H. Born won the award in 1953). * In the 1966 Midwest Regional Finals, Kansas, the favored team to face
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
, played Texas Western. Texas Western got a controversial double overtime victory, 81–80. The would-be winning shot, a 35-footer, at the buzzer was made by
All-American The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed on outstanding athletes in the United States who are considered to be among the best athletes in their respective sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an Al ...
Jo Jo White at the end of the first overtime, but White was called for stepping on the sideline. The game was featuredin the 2006 film '' Glory Road'' which is based on that season's Texas Western National Championship team. * On April 4, 1988, in the 50th NCAA Tournament National Championship game, Kansas defeated the heavily favored
Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...
83–79 to win its second NCAA Men's Basketball championship. Led by senior forward and Player of the Year
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
,
Kevin Pritchard Kevin Lee Pritchard (born July 18, 1967) is an American basketball executive, and a former player and coach, who is currently the president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. Pritchard played 4 seasons in the NBA as a player, and w ...
, Milt Newton, Chris Piper and a roster of players who came to be known as "The Miracles" raced the Sooners to a 50–50 halftime tie that had the referees shaking their heads and smiling as they left the court. Upon their return for the second half, Larry Brown convinced his Jayhawks that now that they proved they could run with the Sooners, they needed to slow the game down and take the Sooners out of their fast break offense. The Sooners built a 5-point second half lead until the Kansas defense finally clamped down. The Jayhawks, led by Manning (31 points, 18 rebounds, 5 steals, 2 blocked shots), caught up with them around the 11 minute mark. The rest of the game was neck and neck, until Manning finally sealed the victory from the free throw line. * On December 9, 1989, AP #2 Kansas beat
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
150–95 in Allen Fieldhouse. The 150 points scored by the Jayhawks set the school record for most points scored in a game, and the team's 80 first-half points set the record for most points scored in a half. * On January 27, 2003, Kansas defeated
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
90–87 at Allen Fieldhouse behind a 24-point, 23-rebound performance by
Nick Collison Nicholas John Collison (born October 26, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a special assistant for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He spent his entire career with the organi ...
. Upon Collison fouling out of the game, his effort moved longtime ESPN college basketball analyst
Dick Vitale Richard "Dick" John Vitale (; born June 9, 1939), also known as "Dickie V", is an American basketball sportscaster. A former head coach in the college and professional ranks, he is well known for his 41-year tenure as a college basketball broadc ...
to give him a standing ovation, only the second time Vitale had ever done so. (the first being for David Robinson) Both Kansas and Texas would make the Final Four that year. * On April 7, 2008, in the 2008 National Championship game, the Kansas Jayhawks defeated the Memphis Tigers 75–68 in a come from behind overtime victory to become the 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Champions.
Mario Chalmers Almario Vernard Chalmers (born May 19, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Zamboanga Valientes of the Asian Tournament (TAT). He was selected as the 34th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Minnesota ...
made a three-point shot with 2.1 seconds remaining, bringing the Jayhawks all the way back from a 60–51 deficit with two minutes remaining. The Jayhawks went 4–4 from the field, including 2–2 from 3-point range, and also went 2–2 from the line in the final 2 minutes. The Jayhawks then continued their hot flurry by going 4–6 from the field in OT and 4–4 from the line, outscoring the Tigers 12–5 in overtime to capture their third NCAA title, and fifth overall, including the retroactively awarded Helms Foundation Championships for the 1922 and 1923 seasons. Chalmers finished with 18 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals, and was chosen the Most Outstanding Player at the
Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...
, the fifth Jayhawk all-time to be selected Final Four MOP. * On January 15, 2011, Kansas celebrated its 69th consecutive home win (over Nebraska), the longest such Division I record since 1992 and the longest home winning streak in KU's history. (The streak ended on January 22, 2011, with a loss at home to the Texas Longhorns.) * On February 25, 2012, the Jayhawks played their final conference game against their longtime rival, the Missouri Tigers. The Kansas Jayhawks came back from a 19-point deficit in the second half to take the team to an 87–86 overtime win against the Tigers. The volume level inside the arena was a sustained 120 dB, with a high point of 127 dB when Thomas Robinson blocked Phil Pressey's shot at the end of regulation to preserve the tie. * On January 4, 2016, the Jayhawks, who were ranked 1st in the AP poll and 2nd in the coaches poll, played
Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...
, who was ranked 2nd in the AP poll and 1st in the coaches poll. The game was back and forth the last few minutes of regulation. The game eventually went to 3 overtimes, and KU won 109–106. Kansas forward Perry Ellis scored 27 points and got 13 rebounds while Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield scored 46 points. The game was the first time in Big 12 history that a conference game featured the number 1 ranked team and the number 2 ranked team. * On February 27, 2016, the Jayhawks won their 12th consecutive Big 12 regular season championship with a 67–58 win at home against Texas Tech. Kansas is one regular season conference championship behind UCLA's record of 13 straight. * On March 25, 2018, the Jayhawks played Duke in the 2018 NCAA tournament in the Elite Eight. The game featured two of the top college basketball programs in the nation with a
Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
coach on both sidelines with
Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...
and
Mike Krzyzewski Michael William Krzyzewski ( , ; born February 13, 1947), nicknamed "Coach K", is an American former college basketball coach. He served as the head coach at Duke University from 1980–81 Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team, 1980 to 2021β€ ...
. The game was a back and forth game that had 18 lead changes and 11 ties. Senior guard Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk made a 3 pointer with 25.7 seconds left to tie the game at 72. Duke guard
Grayson Allen Grayson James Allen (born October 8, 1995) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played four years of college basketball at Duke University, where he helped Duke win a ...
missed the potential game winning shot as time expired and the game went into overtime. Kansas guard Malik Newman scored all 13 of the Jayhawks points in overtime to help them win 85–81 earning KU their first Final Four trip since 2012. The win was later officially vacated by the NCAA. * When the Jayhawks defeated North Carolina in the 2022 National Championship game, they completed the largest comeback in National Championship game history. They were down by as much as 16 points in the first half and were down 25–40 at halftime and won 72–69.


Coaches

Despite having a program for over 120 years, the Jayhawks have only had 8 head coaches. Four of their coaches have been inducted to the Hall of Fame as a coach. The longest tenured coach was
Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach and physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"Larry Brown, who coached for 5 seasons.
Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...
, the current head coach, is the winningest coach in team history with 591. Allen is the next closest to Self with 590 wins. Ted Owens is the only coach in program history to have been fired. Allen and Harp are the only Jayhawk coaches to have also played at the school. Self had his first coaching job as an assistant under Brown at Kansas. Of programs who have been around for at least 100 years, Kansas has had the fewest coaches, yet they have been led to the Final Four by more coaches than any other program. Every coach that has coached Kansas since the inception of the NCAA Tournament in 1939 has led the team to a Final Four. Phog Allen, Dick Harp, Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams, and
Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...
have all led Kansas to NCAA Final Four appearances. Of those coaches, Allen, Brown, and
Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...
have led the Jayhawks to NCAA Championships (in 1952, 1988, 2008, and 2022 respectively). In addition to an NCAA Tournament National Championship, Allen won two retroactively awarded
Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...
National Championships for the 1922 and 1923 seasons. Allen and Self are the only coaches to win multiple National Championships of any kind, while Self is the only one to win multiple NCAA Tournament National Championships. While officially only having had eight coaches in program history, the Jayhawks also had three interim coaches who are not considered an official part of the coaching history. In 1919, Karl Schlademan coached, and won, the first game of the season before relinquishing the coaching position to Allen in order to concentrate on his duties as head track coach. In 1947, Howard Engleman coached 14 games (going 8–6) after Allen was ordered to take a rest following the 13th game of the season. Engleman's record is not listed in this table as he was never officially a head coach at the university. Assistant coach Norm Roberts served as acting head coach for the beginning of the 2022–23 season while Bill Self served a 4-game suspension for alleged recruiting violations. He served as the acting head coach again for Kansas in the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments while Bill Self was away from the team following a heart procedure. Each of these coaches have every one of their wins counted in their career records in the NCAA record books. The only exception is Roberts, who only has 4 wins early in the season counted, instead the 4 wins and 2 losses in the postseason; those 4 wins and 2 losses are counted in Self's career coaching record. ''Updated March 20, 2023''


Facilities

Since first fielding a program, the Jayhawks have had three official home arenas. Kansas also occasionally will play regular season games at the
T-Mobile Center T-Mobile Center (formerly Sprint Center) is a multi-purpose arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It is located at the intersection of 14th Street and Grand Boulevard on the east side of the Power & Light District. It has ef ...
in Kansas City.


Early venues (1898–1907)

Before 1907 the Jayhawks played in various venues, ranging from the basement of the original Snow Hall (even though the ceiling was only 14 feet high) to the skating rink at the local YMCA. Although a current campus building bears the same name, the original Snow Hall was demolished in 1934.


Robinson Gymnasium (1907–1927)

Robinson Gym was the first athletic building on the KU campus and featured a 2,500-seat auditorium used for basketball purposes. The building was demolished in 1967.


Hoch Auditorium (1927–1955)

Hoch Auditorium was a 3,500 seat multi-purpose arena in Lawrence, Kansas. It opened in 1927. It was home to the University of Kansas Jayhawks basketball teams until Allen Fieldhouse opened in 1955. Many of Hoch's nicknames during the basketball years were "Horrible Hoch" and "The House of Horrors." Such nicknames were in reference to the difficulty opposing teams had in dealing with the tight area surrounding the court and the curved walls and decorative lattice work directly behind the backboards. The curvature of the walls made the backboards appear to be moving causing opponents to miss free throws. On June 15, 1991, Hoch Auditorium was struck by lightning. The auditorium and stage area were completely destroyed. Only the limestone facade and lobby area were spared. When reconstruction of the building was complete, the rear half of the building was named Budig Hall, for then KU Chancellor Gene Budig. The name on the facade was altered to reflect the presence of three large auditorium-style lecture halls within the building: Hoch Auditoria.


Allen Fieldhouse (1955–present)

Allen Fieldhouse was dedicated on March 1, 1955, when the Jayhawks defeated in-state rival, Kansas State 77–67. Since February 20, 1994, the Jayhawks have lost only 14 regular season games in Allen Fieldhouse, a 263–14 record (.951). Since February 3, 2007, the Jayhawks have gone 227–9 (.962) at Allen Fieldhouse, as of April 17, 2021, one of the best home record in all of basketball. Allen Fieldhouse is also notorious for its noise level as well. On November 4, 2010, ''ESPN The Magazine'' named Allen Fieldhouse the loudest college basketball arena in the country, reaching sustained decibel levels over 120. On February 13, 2017, in a game against Big 12 opponent
West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...
, fans at Allen Fieldhouse broke the
Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...
for loudest crowd roar at an indoor sporting event with a roar of 130.4
decibels The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose levels differ by one decibel have a ...
, which had been set by
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
on January 28 against Kansas. In the DeBruce Center at the northeast corner of the building is the original document of the Dr. Naismith's Original 13 Rules Of Basketball, purchased at auction by the Booth family for $4.3 million on December 10, 2010. Kansas won 69 consecutive games at the Fieldhouse between February 3, 2007, and January 17, 2011, until Texas ended the longest streak in NCAA Division I since 1992 with a 74–63 win against Kansas on January 22, 2011. This streak broke Kansas's previous school record of 62, which lasted from February 26, 1994, through December 18, 1998 (during which time, the Jayhawks, along with the remaining members of the
Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...
merged with the remaining members of the
Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...
to become charter members of the
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...
). The Jayhawks also completed a 55-game streak between February 22, 1984, through January 30, 1988, which is a Big 8 record.


Home game traditions

Before the start of every Jayhawks home game, after the singing of "
The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort ...
", it is a tradition to sing the
alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...
, "Crimson and the Blue". While singing the alma mater, it is tradition for the students in attendance to put an arm over the shoulders of their neighbors and slowly sway side to side, lifting their arms over their heads as the last line of the song is sung. The song is concluded by the Rock Chalk Chant. Post-game, the band will play a rendition of the Kansas state song "
Home on the Range "Home on the Range" ( Roud No. 3599) is an American folk song, sometimes called the "unofficial anthem" of the American West. Dr. Brewster M. Higley (also spelled Highley) of Smith County, Kansas, wrote the lyrics as the poem "My Western Hom ...
", which the crowd will stand up for similar to the national anthem. After singing
The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort ...
, while the opposing team is being introduced, members of the student section take out a copy of the student-run newspaper, The ''
University Daily Kansan The ''University Daily Kansan'' is an editorially independent student newspaper serving the University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branc ...
'', and wave the paper in front of their faces, pretending to be reading it in an effort to show lack of interest in the opposing team. After the opponents are introduced, a short video is shown, detailing the history and the accomplishments of Kansas basketball. As the Jayhawks are introduced, the students rip up their newspapers and throw the confetti pieces of paper in the air as celebration. Whatever confetti remains is typically thrown in the air after the first basket made by the Jayhawks. If an opposing player fouls out of the game, the fans will "wave the wheat", waving their arms back and forth, as a sarcastic good-bye to the disqualified player, to the tune of "You Didn't Have Your Wheaties", from a series of 1970s television commercials promoting Wheaties breakfast cereal. The same waving motion to the tune of " A Hot Time in the Old Town" follows a Jayhawk victory. If the Jayhawks are leading comfortably near the end of the game, the crowd begins a slow version of the Rock Chalk Chant, which has become the signature tradition of Allen Fieldhouse. The chant can also occasionally be heard at neutral sites, such as arenas for the NCAA tournament and the nearby
T-Mobile Center T-Mobile Center (formerly Sprint Center) is a multi-purpose arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, United States. It is located at the intersection of 14th Street and Grand Boulevard on the east side of the Power & Light District. It has ef ...
on the Missouri side of
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
which during the regular season serves as an alternate home arena. Fans and students will also line up early for Late Night In The Phog, which is the first practice of the season. The practice is viewable to the public and includes skits with past players as the hosts.


Year-by-year Results


Rivalries


Kansas State

The Jayhawks longest played rivalry is with cross-state rival Kansas State. The Jayhawks lead the series 203–94. The Jayhawks have dominated the series since 1984 holding a record of 86–12 in that time frame. K-State has not led the all-time series since 1922. The schools have met annually since 1912 and first played in 1907. Kansas leads in Lawrence 93–35, in Manhattan 81–48, and on neutral courts 29–11. The Largest K-State victory was by 27 points, 96–69, on January 20, 1979. The largest Kansas win was 45 points, 90–45, on March 10, 1955. K-State longest win streak was 5 games, which they achieved twice, from 1972 to 1974 and 1982–83. The longest winning streak from Kansas was 31 games from 1994 to 2005.


Missouri

The Jayhawks main rival has been Missouri for many years. The two teams first played in 1907. The two teams played every year until Missouri left the Big 12 for the SEC. The schools renewed the rivalry beginning in the 2021–22 season. The Jayhawks won the first game in the renewal of the rivalry 102–65. KU leads the all-time series 174–94. The Jayhawks largest victory was 47 points, 96–49, on December 28, 1977. Missouri's largest victory was 30 points, 99–69, on January 17, 1976. The Jayhawks longest winning streak was 14 games from 1910 to 1913. Missouri's longest winning streak was 9 from 1920 to 1922.


Wichita State

While not officially a rivalry, the Jayhawks have played cross-state opponent Wichita State 16 times. The teams most recently met in the 2023–24 season with KU winning 86–67. Kansas leads the all-time series 13–3. The Jayhawks' largest victory was a 49-point win in 1993. The Shockers' largest victory was a 14-point win in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Wichita State has never won consecutive games against Kansas. The Jayhawks won five times in a row from 1989 to 1993. Wichita State won both games between the schools in the NCAA Tournament.


Post-season results


Regular season conference championships

The Jayhawks have won 62 conference championships since their inception, including an NCAA record 13 consecutive from 2005 through 2017. The Jayhawks have belonged to the
Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...
since it formed before the 1996–97 season. Before that, the Jayhawks have belonged to the
Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA) was a college athletic conference and the second college conference formed upon its foundation on January 12, 1907.David A. Campaigne and John R. Thelin, "Big Twelve Conference", ...
from the 1907–08 to 1927–28 seasons, the Big Six Conference from 1928–29 to 1946–47, the Big Seven Conference from 1947–48 to 1957–58, the
Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...
from 1958 to 1959 up until the end of the 1995–96 season. The Big Six and Big Seven conferences were actually the more often used names of the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association, which existed under that official name until 1964, when it was changed to the Big Eight. Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (13) * 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912, 1914, 1915, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927 Big 6/7/8 Conference (30) * 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1960, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1986, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996 Big 12 Conference (20) * 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022, 2023


Conference tournament championships

The Big Eight Conference did not regularly have a post-season tournament until after the 1977 season. Prior to that teams usually played in the Big Eight (before that, Big Seven) Holiday Tournament in December. The Holiday tournament ended after the 1979 season. Big Seven/Big Eight Holiday Tournament (13) * 1951, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1974, 1977, 1978 Big Eight Conference (4) * 1981, 1984, 1986, 1992 Big 12 Conference (11) *
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
,
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
,
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
,
2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...
,
2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
,
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
,
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
,
2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
,
2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...
,
2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
,
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
*,
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...


NCAA Tournament seeding history

The
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
started seeding teams with the
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – BΓΌlent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
tournament, with the seeding format used today beginning in
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
. The Jayhawks were seeded for the first time in their 1981 tournament appearance. There was no tournament in 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. * Indicates overall number one seed. Indicates NCAA championship.


Final Four history

*
1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...
-Runner-up *
1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...
-Champion *
1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian Γ©migrΓ©s found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...
-Runner-up *
1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...
-Runner-up *
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
-Semifinalist *
1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...
-Semifinalist *
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...
-Semifinalist * 1988-Champion *
1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
-Runner-up *
1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...
-Semifinalist *
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
-Semifinalist *
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
-Runner-up *
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
-Champion *
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
-Runner-up *
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
-Semifinalist* *
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
-Champion


Men's NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player

*
1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...
–
Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...
*
1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian Γ©migrΓ©s found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...
– B. H. Born* *
1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...
–
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
* * 1988 –
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
*
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
–
Mario Chalmers Almario Vernard Chalmers (born May 19, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Zamboanga Valientes of the Asian Tournament (TAT). He was selected as the 34th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Minnesota ...
*
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
– Ochai Agbaji


National Championships

The Jayhawks have been awarded a combined 6 Championships, two Helms Championships and four NCAA Tournament National Championships. The Helms titles were awarded retroactively by the
Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...
in 1943. Some schools do not claim Helms championships, Kansas, however, does claim them and has a banner hanging for both in Allen Fieldhouse, along with their NCAA Tournament championships.


Helms Athletic Foundation Championships

* 1921-22 :Head Coach:
Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach and physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"1922-23 :Head Coach: Phog Allen :Record: 17-1


NCAA Tournament National Championships


=1952

= The Jayhawks 1951–52 team won the schools first NCAA Tournament Championship. They were coached by Phog Allen and finished the season with a 28–3 record.


=1988

= The 1987–88 team won the Jayhawks second NCAA Tournament championship. The Jayhawks were coached by Larry Brown. They finished the season 27–11, which is the lowest winning percentage (.710) and most losses of any team to win the national championship. The team remains the only championship team of the Jayhawks that did not win the regular season conference championship or the conference tournament championship.


=2008

= The 2007–08 team won the Jayhawks third NCAA Tournament Championship. They were coached by Bill Self and finished the season with a 37–3 record, which is a school record for wins in a season.


=2022

= The 2021–22 team won the Jayhawks fourth NCAA Tournament Championship, which is their most recent championship. They were coached by Bill Self and finished the season with a 34–6 record. The Jayhawks tournament run in 2022 is the only one since teams began being seeded that they did not play a single number 1 seed in the Final Four and National Championship game.


Complete NCAA tournament results

The Jayhawks have appeared in the NCAA tournament 52 times. Their combined record is 117–51. Their largest victory in a tournament game was a 58-point (110–52) victory over Prairie View A&M in 1998, which is also the Jayhawks tournament record for most points scored in a tournament game. Their largest defeat in a tournament game was a 34-point defeat (51–85) against USC in 2021, which was also their lowest point total in the NCAA tournament total since the introduction of the shot clock in the 1985–86 season. They have been eliminated in the first round only seven times since the beginning of the tournament, only three of those times have been since the tournament expanded to 64 teams. The Jayhawks have played in 11 overtime games in the NCAA Tournament and have a 6–5 record. Two of their overtime games went into multiple overtimes, both of which have been depicted in a film. Their 3 overtime game against North Carolina in the 1957 National Championship game was depicted in the film '' Jayhawkers'' and their double overtime loss to Texas Western in the 1966 Elite Eight, which was featured in the 2006 film '' Glory Road''. Only four times in program history has Kansas failed to win a single game in the tournament and only twice since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. Like most schools, Kansas rarely plays conference opponents in the tournament. The 1988 tournament was the only time they've ever played conference opponents. In that tournament they defeated rival Kansas State in the Elite 8 and Oklahoma in the national championship game. Appearances are grouped by the number of teams in the bracket. Round names are based on what round names were at the time of the tournament, not the present names. The term "Elite eight" began in 1956, "Final four" began in 1975, and "Sweet Sixteen" began in 1988. ;Eight team tournament ;Sixteen to Thirty-two team tournament ;Forty to Fifty-three teams ;Sixty-four teams ;Sixty-five teams ;First four era ;Record by round


NIT results

The Jayhawks have appeared in the
National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...
(NIT) two times. Their combined record is 3–2.


Jayhawks of note


All-time leaders

No players appear in all three lists. Five players make two appearances. Due to them being the two most recent coaches, Bill Self and Roy Williams coached the most players on the list. However, three players from the 50s make appearances, including
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
, despite only playing 48 games for the Jayhawks. Dajuan Harris Jr. is the only active player on these lists. Harris is, as of the end of the 2023–24 season, 4th in assists. ;Scoring ;Rebounds ;Assists


All-Americans


Consensus first team

Kansas leads all NCAA teams with 32 consensus First Team All-American selections, 25 different players have received the honor. * 1909– Tommy Johnson, forward *
1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...
– Ralph Sproull, forward *
1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...
– Dutch Lonborg,
guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...
*
1922 Events January * January 7 – DΓ‘il Γ‰ireann (Irish Republic), DΓ‘il Γ‰ireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of DΓ‘il Γ‰irean ...
– Paul Endacott, guard *
1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...
– Paul Endacott, guard * 1923– Charlie T. Black, guard *
1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...
– Charlie T. Black, guard * 1924– Tusten Ackerman, center *
1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...
– Tusten Ackerman, center *
1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...
– Gale Gordon, guard * 1926– Al Peterson, center *
1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...
– Fred Pralle, guard *
1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...
– Howard Engleman, forward *
1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 β€ ...
– Charles B. Black, forward *
1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
–
Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...
, center *
1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...
– Clyde Lovellette, center *
1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...
–
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
, center *
1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...
– Wilt Chamberlain, center *
1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...
–
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
, forward * 1988– Danny Manning, forward‑ *
1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...
–
Raef LaFrentz Raef Andrew LaFrentz (born May 29, 1976) is an American former professional basketball Power forward (basketball), power forward and Center (basketball), center who played for the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, and Portland Tra ...
, forward *
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
– Raef LaFrentz, forward‑ * 1998–
Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Boston Celtics. As of September 2024, he is a contributo ...
, forward *
2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...
–
Drew Gooden Andrew Melvin Gooden III (born September 24, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently a broadcaster for Monumental Sports Network. The power forward (basketball), power forward played 14 seasons in the Nationa ...
, forward *
2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...
–
Nick Collison Nicholas John Collison (born October 26, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a special assistant for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He spent his entire career with the organi ...
, forward‑ *
2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...
– Wayne Simien, forward *
2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
– Sherron Collins, guard *
2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
– Thomas Robinson, forward *
2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
–
Frank Mason III Frank Leo Mason III (born April 3, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for Leones de Ponce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for the University of Kansas, where he was the starting point guar ...
, guard *
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
– Devonte' Graham, guard *
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
– Ochai Agbaji, guard *
2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...
– Jalen Wilson, guard ‑ indicates player has made at least 2000 points and 1000 rebounds in his college career.


Other first team selections

*
1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...
– Gale Gordon, guard * 1925– Al Peterson, center *
1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...
– Forrest Cox, guard *
1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...
– Ted O'Leary, forward *
1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...
– Bill Johnson, center *
1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...
– Ray Ebling- forward *
1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza GarcΓ­a becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...
– Fred Pralle, guard *
1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...
– Charles B. Black, forward * 1942–
Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter best known for being a half of a composing-songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, specializing himself in writing lyrics for film songs. On music Livingston ...
, guard *
1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 β€ ...
– Ray Evans, guard *
1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...
– Charles B. Black, forward *
1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...
– Charles B. Black, forward *
1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...
–
Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...
, center *
1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian Γ©migrΓ©s found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...
– B. H. Born, center *
1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...
– Bill Bridges, forward *
1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...
– Jerry Gardner, guard *
1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...
– Walt Wesley, center *
1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-BΓ©del Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'Γ©tat: President Maurice YamΓ©ogo i ...
– Walt Wesley, center *
1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...
– Jo Jo White, guard *
1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...
– Jo Jo White, guard *
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...
–
Dave Robisch David George Robisch (born December 22, 1949) is a retired American professional basketball player in the ABA and NBA. Robisch played at the University of Kansas, where he was initiated into the Sigma Nu fraternity. He was positioned at center a ...
, forward *
1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...
– Dave Robisch, forward *
1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...
– Bud Stallworth, forward *
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...
–
Darnell Valentine Darnell Terrell Valentine (born February 3, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life Valentine was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Wi ...
, guard *
1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...
–
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
, forward *
2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
– Udoka Azubuike, center


Academic All-Americans

* 1971 – Bud Stallworth * 1974 – Tom Kivisto * 1977 – Cris Barnthouse & Ken Koenigs * 1978 – Ken Koenigs * 1979 –
Darnell Valentine Darnell Terrell Valentine (born February 3, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life Valentine was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Wi ...
* 1980 – Darnell Valentine * 1981 – Darnell Valentine * 1982 – David Magley * 1996 – Jacque Vaughn * 1997 – Jacque Vaughn† &
Jerod Haase Jerod Albert Haase (born April 1, 1974) is an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach for Stanford Cardinal men's team of the Pac-12 Conference from 2016 to 2024. Haase played college basketball at the University of Californi ...
* 1999 – Ryan Robertson * 2010 – Cole Aldrich† * 2011 – Tyrel Reed † indicates Academic All-American of the Year


National Player of the Year awards

* 1923 – Paul Endacott (
Helms Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...
) * 1924 – Charlie T. Black (Helms Foundation) * 1952 –
Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...
(Helms Foundation) * 1988 –
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
( Wooden, NABC, Naismith) * 2002 –
Drew Gooden Andrew Melvin Gooden III (born September 24, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently a broadcaster for Monumental Sports Network. The power forward (basketball), power forward played 14 seasons in the Nationa ...
(NABC) * 2003 –
Nick Collison Nicholas John Collison (born October 26, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a special assistant for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He spent his entire career with the organi ...
(NABC) * 2017 –
Frank Mason III Frank Leo Mason III (born April 3, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for Leones de Ponce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for the University of Kansas, where he was the starting point guar ...
(Consensus)


McDonald's All-Americans

The 50
McDonald's All-American McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American multinational fast food chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese chain Mixue Ice Cream & Tea. Brothers ...
s listed below have played for Kansas. An asterisk, "*", Indicates player did not finish his college career at Kansas. A cross, "†", indicates player did not begin his college career at Kansas. The 2015 game had the most future Jayhawks playing in the game with four, however, two players transferred to Kansas and one transferred out of Kansas. The 2022 game also had 4 players but one transferred to Kansas and one transferred out of Kansas. ;1970–1999 * 1977 –
Darnell Valentine Darnell Terrell Valentine (born February 3, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life Valentine was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Wi ...
* 1978 – Tony Guy * 1979 – Ricky Ross* * 1981 – Greg Dreiling† * 1982 – Kerry Boagni* * 1984 –
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
* 1985 – Rick Calloway† * 1986 – Mark Randall * 1987 – Mike Maddox * 1990 – Darrin Hancock† * 1991 – Calvin Rayford & Ben Davis* * 1993 – Jacque Vaughn * 1994 –
Raef LaFrentz Raef Andrew LaFrentz (born May 29, 1976) is an American former professional basketball Power forward (basketball), power forward and Center (basketball), center who played for the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, and Portland Tra ...
* 1995 – Ryan Robertson &
Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Boston Celtics. As of September 2024, he is a contributo ...
* 1996 – Lester Earl† * 1997 – Kenny Gregory & Eric Chenowith * 1998 – Jeff Boschee * 1999 –
Nick Collison Nicholas John Collison (born October 26, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a special assistant for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He spent his entire career with the organi ...
;2000–2019 * 2001 – Wayne Simien & Aaron Miles * 2003 – J. R. Giddens* & David Padgett* * 2005 – Micah Downs*,
Mario Chalmers Almario Vernard Chalmers (born May 19, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Zamboanga Valientes of the Asian Tournament (TAT). He was selected as the 34th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Minnesota ...
& Julian Wright * 2006 – Sherron Collins & Darrell Arthur * 2007 – Cole Aldrich * 2009 –
Xavier Henry Xavier Henry (; born March 15, 1991) is an American former professional basketball player. He played one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks before he was drafted in the 2010 NBA draft by the Mem ...
* 2010 – Josh Selby * 2012 – Perry Ellis * 2013 – Wayne Selden, Jr. & Andrew Wiggins * 2014 – Cliff Alexander & Kelly Oubre * 2015 – Carlton Bragg*, Cheick Diallo, Malik Newman† & Dedric Lawson† * 2016 – Udoka Azubuike & Josh Jackson * 2018 – David McCormack, Quentin Grimes* & Devon Dotson ;2020–present * 2020 – Bryce Thompson* * 2022 – Gradey Dick, M. J. Rice*, Ernest Udeh, Arterio Morris†* * 2023 – Elmarko Jackson * 2024 – Flory Bidunga


Jayhawk basketball players notable in other fields

Below are any former Jayhawks who are notable in other fields. Included are the years they played basketball at Kansas and what they are notable for. * Jim Bausch – Olympic decathlete – 1929–1931 – also a member of the
College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...
*
Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...
– Politician – 1941–1944 – also played football while at Kansas * Walter Sutton – Geneticist – 1898–1899


Retired jerseys

KU only retires the jerseys, and not the numbers, of past basketball players. Eight players honored played on one of KU's 5 championship teams. Thirty-three players have had their jersey retired by Kansas. One former announcer, Max Falkenstien, is honored with the retired jerseys as well. His number 60 was chosen because that was the number of years he was the radio announcer for the Jayhawks. Charlie T. Black and Paul Endacott are the only two players with their jerseys retired to play on two championship teams. Four players from the 2008 Championship have their jersey retired, which is the most players honored to be on a roster in any single season in Kansas basketball history. ;Notes * Member of 1922 National Championship team * Member of 1923 National Championship team * Member of 1952 National Championship team * Member of 1988 National Championship team * Member of 2008 National Championship team


Jayhawks in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

Twenty members of the
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...
have been associated with the Kansas men's basketball team. This includes several players, Kansas head coaches, former Jayhawk players who have been inducted in other roles, and former assistant coaches.


Players

*
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
* Paul Endacott * Bill Johnson * Allen Kelley (enshrined as member of 1960 Olympic gold medal team) *
Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...
*
Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Boston Celtics. As of September 2024, he is a contributo ...
* Jo Jo White


Jayhawk coaches

Below are Jayhawk head coaches in the Hall of Fame. *
Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach and physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"Larry Brown * Roy Williams *
Bill Self Billy Eugene Self Jr. (born December 27, 1962) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team. Self has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level an ...
(also a former assistant coach)


Former players not enshrined as a player or Kansas coach

The following former players are enshrined in the Hall of Fame but not as a player or as a coach at Kansas. * John Bunn, also freshmen team coach, enshrined as a contributor * Dutch Lonborg, former athletic director, enshrined as a coach *
Ralph Miller Ralph H. Miller (March 9, 1919 – May 15, 2001) was an American college basketball coach, a head coach for 38 years at three universities: Wichita (now known as Wichita State), Iowa, and Oregon State. With an overall record of , his teams had ...
, also a Kansas football player, enshrined as a coach * Ernie Quigley, enshrined as a referee *
Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 β€“ December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...
, enshrined as a coach *
Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...
, enshrined as a coach


Others

The following are people associated with Kansas basketball in some way that are in the Hall of Fame for a reason not already mentioned. *
James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Scottish-Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United State ...
, head coach from 1898 to 1907, enshrined as inventor of the game, namesake for Hall of Fame *
John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (; born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach at the Arkansas Razorbacks men's basketball, University of Arkansas. He has been named Naismith College Coach of the Year three times (1996, 2 ...
, assistant at Kansas from 1982 to 1985, enshrined as a head coach, primarily a college coach but had a brief stint in the NBA. *
Gregg Popovich Gregg Charles Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American professional basketball executive and former coach who is the president for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the List of current NBA head co ...
, assistant at Kansas for 1986–87 season, enshrined as head coach in NBA.


Jayhawks in the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame

There are multiple former Kansas players that have been enshrined in the
National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame The National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Kansas City, Missouri, is a hall of fame and museum dedicated to men's college basketball. The museum is an integral portion of the College Basketball Experience created by the Nation ...
. Some former players have been enshrined as players, while some former players have been enshrined as coaches.


Coaches

*
Phog Allen Forrest Clare "Phog" Allen (November 18, 1885 – September 16, 1974) was an American basketball coach and physician. Known as the "Father of Basketball Coaching,"Larry Brown * Roy Williams


Players

*
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
* Paul Endacott * Bill Johnson *
Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...
*
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
*
Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Boston Celtics. As of September 2024, he is a contributo ...


Former players inducted as coaches

*
Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...
, coached at
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
*
Adolph Rupp Adolph Frederick Rupp (September 2, 1901 β€“ December 10, 1977) was an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed the "Baron of the Bluegrass", he coached the University of Kentucky Wildcats to four NCAA Division I men's basketball tournam ...
, coached at
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
*
Ralph Miller Ralph H. Miller (March 9, 1919 – May 15, 2001) was an American college basketball coach, a head coach for 38 years at three universities: Wichita (now known as Wichita State), Iowa, and Oregon State. With an overall record of , his teams had ...
, coached at Wichita (now known as Wichita State),
Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...
, and Oregon State * Dutch Lonborg, coached at McPherson, Washburn, and Northwestern


Contributors

*
James Naismith James Naismith (; November 6, 1861November 28, 1939) was a Scottish-Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United State ...
, former coach, inducted as inventor of basketball * John Bunn, former basketball and football player, inducted as chairman of
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...


Olympians

Below are Jayhawks who represented their country in the
Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...
as a player or coach. Thirteen Jayhawks have been chosen to represent their home country in the Olympics. Only Sasha Kaun represented a country other than the United States when he represented Russia in 2012. Former Jayhawk
Joel Embiid Joel Hans Embiid ( ; born 16 March 1994) is a Cameroonian and American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks men's ...
is the most recent Jayhawk to participate in the Olympics and represent the US, he will participate in the
2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...
. Eleven have played in the Olympics, two coached, and one was selected but didn't play due to a
boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...
, Darnell Valentine. The 1952 Olympic team featured 7 Jayhawk players and a coach. Two former Jayhawk basketball players have coached in the Olympics. Current Jayhawk Johnny Furphy is on the final list for Australia for the 2024 Olympics.


Presidential Medal of Freedom

The
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...
is the highest civilian honor in the United States and is awarded by the president. The award has been given to two former Kansas basketball players for contributions outside of the University of Kansas.


Jayhawks in the NBA

The Jayhawks have multiple connections to the
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...
. Below is a list of former players and coaches. People that are currently coaches or in management will show their current job, as well as how they are associated with Kansas basketball.


Current management

*
R. C. Buford Robert Canterbury Buford (born May 16, 1960) is an American basketball executive who is the CEO of the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was named general manager in 2002 after five seasons serving as team presid ...
– General Manager
San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
, assistant coach 1983–1988 *
Kevin Pritchard Kevin Lee Pritchard (born July 18, 1967) is an American basketball executive, and a former player and coach, who is currently the president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. Pritchard played 4 seasons in the NBA as a player, and w ...
– President of basketball operations
Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...
, player 1986–1990 *
Nick Collison Nicholas John Collison (born October 26, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a special assistant for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He spent his entire career with the organi ...
– Special assistant to general manager
Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...
, player 1999–2003 * Alvin Gentry - Vice President of Basketball Engagement
Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...
, assistant coach, 1986–89


Coaches

* Greg Dreiling – Scout,
Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...
, player 1983–86 *
Gregg Popovich Gregg Charles Popovich (born January 28, 1949) is an American professional basketball executive and former coach who is the president for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was the List of current NBA head co ...
– Head Coach,
San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
, volunteer assistant 1986–87 season * Michael Lee – Scout,
Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...
, played at Kansas 2001–05 * Aaron Miles – Assistant coach,
New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Confere ...
, played at Kansas 2001–05 *
Rex Walters Rex Andrew Walters Sr. (born March 12, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who last served as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Previously, he was the asso ...
– Assistant coach,
Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team ...
, played at Kansas 1991–93


Current players

Below is a list of former Jayhawk basketball on NBA rosters. Free agents should not be included on the list. Players with an asterisk are players that have been assigned to the G-League. In the offseason, players who were signed to a team's summer league roster should not be included. * Ochai Agbaji –
Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...
* Udoka Azubuike –
Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...
*
Christian Braun Christian Nicolas Braun ( ; born April 17, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A Kansas native, Braun won Mr. Kansas Basketball in 2019 and played collegiat ...
–
Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...
* Gradey Dick –
Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...
*
Joel Embiid Joel Hans Embiid ( ; born 16 March 1994) is a Cameroonian and American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks men's ...
–
Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...
* Devonte' Graham –
San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
* Quentin Grimes –
Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...
* Marcus Morris –
San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...
* Markieff Morris –
Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...
* Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk –
Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...
* Kelly Oubre Jr. –
Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...
* Jalen Wilson –
Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), ...
* Andrew Wiggins –
Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...


Recently became a Free agent

This section is former Jayhawks that were on an NBA roster during the 2019-2020 NBA season but are not on an NBA roster. Any players on this list that are not on a roster by the start of the season should be moved to former players. Players listed below may be under contract in an international league, but are not under contract in the NBA or the G-League. * Wayne Selden, most recently played for the
New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...
* Josh Jackson, most recently played for the
Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...


Former players

Below are former Jayhawks who spent three or more seasons in the NBA. * Cole Aldrich (2010–18) * Darrell Arthur (2008–18) * Charles B. Black (1948–51) * Tarik Black (2014–18) * Bill Bridges (1962–74) * Walter Roger Brown (1972–79) *
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
(1959–72) *
Nick Collison Nicholas John Collison (born October 26, 1980) is an American former professional basketball player who is a special assistant for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He spent his entire career with the organi ...
(2003–18) * Cheick Diallo (2016–22) * Greg Dreiling (1986–96) *
Drew Gooden Andrew Melvin Gooden III (born September 24, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player who is currently a broadcaster for Monumental Sports Network. The power forward (basketball), power forward played 14 seasons in the Nationa ...
(2002–16) *
Xavier Henry Xavier Henry (; born March 15, 1991) is an American former professional basketball player. He played one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Kansas Jayhawks before he was drafted in the 2010 NBA draft by the Mem ...
(2010–14) *
Wayne Hightower Wayne A. Hightower (January 14, 1940 – April 18, 2002) was an American professional basketball player who had a long and productive career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1962 to 1972. ...
(1962–71) * Kirk Hinrich (2003–16) * Maury King (1959–62) *
Raef LaFrentz Raef Andrew LaFrentz (born May 29, 1976) is an American former professional basketball Power forward (basketball), power forward and Center (basketball), center who played for the Denver Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks, Boston Celtics, and Portland Tra ...
(1998–09) *
Clyde Lovellette Clyde Edward Lovellette ( ; September 7, 1929 – March 9, 2016) was an American professional basketball player. Lovellette was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988. He was the first basketball player in history to ...
(1953–63) *
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
(1988–02) *
Frank Mason III Frank Leo Mason III (born April 3, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for Leones de Ponce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for the University of Kansas, where he was the starting point guar ...
(2017–21) * Paul Mokeski (1979–90) * Greg Ostertag (1995–05) *
Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce (born October 13, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Boston Celtics. As of September 2024, he is a contributo ...
(1998–17) * Scot Pollard (1997–08) *
Kevin Pritchard Kevin Lee Pritchard (born July 18, 1967) is an American basketball executive, and a former player and coach, who is currently the president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. Pritchard played 4 seasons in the NBA as a player, and w ...
(1990–95) * Mark Randall (1991–94) *
Dave Robisch David George Robisch (born December 22, 1949) is a retired American professional basketball player in the ABA and NBA. Robisch played at the University of Kansas, where he was initiated into the Sigma Nu fraternity. He was positioned at center a ...
(1971–83) * Thomas Robinson (2012–17) * Brandon Rush (2008–17) * Isaac Stallworth (1972–76) * Billy Thomas (1999–08) *
Calvin Thompson Calvin Thompson (born June 27, 1964) is an American basketball coach and a member of the University of Kansas' 1986 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, 1986 Final Four team. He holds Kansas' record for most consecutive free throws made a ...
(1983–86) *
Darnell Valentine Darnell Terrell Valentine (born February 3, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player who played ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Early life Valentine was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Wi ...
(1981–90) * Jacque Vaughn (1997–09) *
Rex Walters Rex Andrew Walters Sr. (born March 12, 1970) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who last served as an assistant coach for the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Previously, he was the asso ...
(1993–99) * Walt Wesley (1966–75) * Jo Jo White (1969–80) * Jeff Withey (2013–17) * Julian Wright (2007–11)


Draft history

* 91 total NBA draft picks. * 39 players drafted 30th or better. 38 if including territorial pick
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
. (Equivalent to 1st round picks by modern draft standards.) * 23 players drafted 31–60th. (Equivalent to 2nd round picks by modern draft standards.) Territorial Picks
From 1947 to 1965 the draft allowed teams not drawing fans to select a local player, in place of their first round pick. Regular Draft


NBA Award winners

Below are Jayhawks that have won an award in the NBA such as MVP, Rookie of the Year, etc. Not included are Jayhawks who made All-Star or All-NBA teams, or Jayhawks that have won All-Star game MVP, the dunk contest, or 3 point contest. Eleven times a Jayhawk has won a major award, six different Jayhawks have won awards. The only major award a Jayhawk has never won is Defensive Player of the Year.
Wilt Chamberlain Wilton Norman Chamberlain ( ; August21, 1936 – October12, 1999) was an American professional basketball player. Standing tall, he played Center (basketball), center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 14 seasons. He was enshrin ...
won an award six times during his career including four MVP Awards.
Joel Embiid Joel Hans Embiid ( ; born 16 March 1994) is a Cameroonian and American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks men's ...
is the most recent winner of an award-winning league MVP for the 2022–23, the second Jayhawk to win that award along with Chamberlain who also won the award with the
Philadelphia 76ers The Philadelphia 76ers, also known colloquially as the Sixers, are an American professional basketball team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 76ers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlan ...
.


Current Jayhawk college coaches

Division I Head Coaches – former players * Tad Boyle,
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
Division I Head Coaches – former players and assistant coaches *
Jerod Haase Jerod Albert Haase (born April 1, 1974) is an American college basketball coach. He was the head coach for Stanford Cardinal men's team of the Pac-12 Conference from 2016 to 2024. Haase played college basketball at the University of Californi ...
,
Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...
Women's Division I Head Coaches * Terry Nooner,
Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 ...
Division I assistants – former players * Jeremy Case, Kansas *
Danny Manning Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to and short for the male name Daniel.πŸ–ΎπŸ–Ύ People *Danny Altmann, British immunologist * Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer * Danny Baker (born 1957), English j ...
,
Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
* Evan Manning, Gonzaga


Jayhawks in the NBA G-League

Below are former Jayhawks under contract with a G-League team but are not on a two-way contract with an NBA team. * Tarik Black – Grand Rapids Gold *
Mario Chalmers Almario Vernard Chalmers (born May 19, 1986) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Zamboanga Valientes of the Asian Tournament (TAT). He was selected as the 34th overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Minnesota ...
–
Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team has played its home games in the Sanford Pentagon since the 2013–14 ...
* Cheick Diallo –
Motor City Cruise The Motor City Cruise are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Detroit, and are affiliated with the Detroit Pistons. The Cruise play their home games at Wayne State Fieldhouse. The franchise began play as the Lon ...
* Devon Dotson –
Windy City Bulls The Windy City Bulls are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and are affiliated with the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls play their home games at Now Arena, from Chicago. It became the thirte ...
* Marcus Garrett – Sioux Falls Skyforce *
Frank Mason III Frank Leo Mason III (born April 3, 1994) is an American professional basketball player for Leones de Ponce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for the University of Kansas, where he was the starting point guar ...
– South Bay Lakers * Malik Newman – Cleveland Charge


NCAA records


Active streak

* Most consecutive coaches leading team to Final Four: 6


Team

* Largest unranked-to-ranked jump: From unranked to No. 4 after beating No. 1 (UNLV), No. 2 (LSU), and No. 25 (SJU) in the 1989 preseason NIT. * Most wins over an opponent in a single calendar year: 5 (Over Nebraska in 1909 and Kansas State in 1935) * Consecutive regular season conference championships: 13, 2005 to 2017 (tied) * Consecutive weeks ranked in AP poll: 231, February 2, 2009, to February 8, 2021 * 25+ win seasons: 15, 2005–06 season to 2019–20 season * 20+ win seasons: 28, 1989–90 season to 2016–17* * Consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances: 27, 1990–2017*


Individual

* Career games scoring in double figures: 132, Danny Manning * Rebounds in first career game: 31, Wilt Chamberlain, vs. Northwestern, December 5, 1956 * Most blocks in a single NCAA tournament: 31, Jeff Withey


Other

* Most winning seasons: 101 * Most non-losing seasons (.500 or better): 104 * Most regular season conference championships: 61 * Most Consensus first-team All-Americans: 23 * Most Consensus first-team All-American selections: 30


See also

* NCAA Men's Division I Final Four appearances by coaches * NCAA Men's Division I Final Four appearances by school * List of teams with the most victories in NCAA Division I men's college basketball * NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Consecutive Appearances


References


External links

* {{Big 12 Conference men's basketball navbox Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball, Basketball teams established in 1898 1898 establishments in Kansas