Tag: kansas jayhawks

Chiefs scouting report: Kansas Jayhawks CB Cobee Bryant

Kansas #Jayhawks cornerback Cobee Bryant could be a perfect target for the Kansas City #Chiefs in the 2025 NFL draft.

The Kansas City Chiefs must add to their depth at the cornerback position at some point in the 2025 NFL draft. The Chiefs’ secondary finally returned to full strength for the playoffs, but injuries caused chaos during Kansas City’s regular season campaign. Fortunately, this class features one of the deepest cornerback pools in recent history.

Kansas Jayhawks cornerback Cobee Bryant is a ballhawk with 13 career interceptions split across four seasons. After amassing more than 2,600 career snaps, his football intelligence and recognition are off the charts. He quickly identifies and attacks route combinations and knows when to break off his assignment to jump other routes for surprise interceptions. Bryant’s route recognition also helps him trigger to contest slants from off-man coverage.

Bryant is patient in press coverage and gets in phase early in the route before sticking to the receiver vertically. He drives outside releases into the sideline and uses ideal leverage to take away throwing lanes. His jams lack consistent power, but he delivers some stiff punches that re-route receivers.

Bryant is a slim cornerback who weighed only 171 lbs. at the Shrine Bowl in January, but he plays above his weight. He steps downhill to fit the run and squares up to drive through ball carriers. Bryant disrupts screens by quickly triggering, ducking around blockers, and delivering big hits.

Bryant projects as a fourth-round selection. Cornerbacks under six feet tall with lean builds and good but not elite speed have little room for error. Some of his speed limitations showed up against Iowa State’s Jaylin Noel. Bryant won’t meet every team’s size thresholds, but he possesses the skills and mentality to outperform his draft positioning.

Wisconsin transfer guard sees role increase in Kansas’ road win over TCU

Wisconsin transfer guard sees role increase in Kansas’ road win over TCU

It has been a rocky 2024-25 season for Wisconsin transfer A.J. Storr.

Storr, now at Kansas, was a high-profile transfer last offseason after an excellent 2023-24 season at Wisconsin. Many thought he would be the missing piece for the top-ranked Jayhawks as they look to return to the Final Four.

Related: Updated game-by-game predictions for Wisconsin basketball after UCLA loss

That has not been the case up to this date. Storr operated as a primary reserve option throughout Kansas’ nonconference schedule. He then saw his role decrease dramatically over a five-game stretch in early January. That quiet string of performances dropped his season-long averages to just 17.7 minutes per game, 6.7 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists on 39.8% shooting and 29.7% from three.

That streak ended with the team’s Jan. 15 loss to No. 2 Iowa State. Over the two games since that point, Storr’s role and production are back to trending in the right direction.

First, Storr tallied seven points on three-of-six shooting in 17 minutes in an 84-74 win over Kansas State.

Next, he notched 12 points, six rebounds, an assist and three steals on six-of-10 shooting in 22 minutes in the team’s road win over TCU on Wednesday.

That second performance was his first game with 20-plus minutes since Dec. 22, and only his second game scoring in double-figures since Dec. 4.

 

The former Badger has yet to fulfill the expectations that followed his high-profile transfer move. His play is beginning to trend in a positive direction, however. By no coincidence, that stretch has also coincided with Kansas stringing together several important conference victories.

Storr’s season-long numbers now sit at 17.9 minutes per game, seven points, 2.1 rebounds and one assist on 42% shooting and 28.6% from three. Those are still all far below his tallies of 28.8 minutes, 16.8 points and 3.9 rebounds with the Badgers last season.

He and the No. 12-ranked Jayhawks are back on the court on Jan. 25 for a big-time home showdown against No. 7 Houston.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, continues its strong play after Storr and Chucky Hepburn’s respective departures. The Badgers are 15-4 on the season, 5-3 in Big Ten play and ranked No. 18 in the AP Poll. Transfer wing John Tonje and rising star John Blackwell have led those impressive results.

It will continue to be worth monitoring how Storr and Hepburn progress at their new programs. Hepburn is amid a career year at Louisville — his numbers, which are up across the board, have him in position to earn a first-team All-ACC nod. Plus, he just recently set the Louisville single-game assists record.

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CU women’s basketball to battle Kansas Saturday afternoon

Frida Formann and the CU women’s basketball team will host Kansas tomorrow

Fresh off a commanding win over the UCF Knights, Colorado women’s basketball will host the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday afternoon at the CU Events Center.

Both teams are 11-4 overall entering this matchup but the Buffs have gotten off to a stronger start in Big 12 play, sporting a 2-2 conference record to Kansas’ 3-1. Even more, Colorado has lost only one home game all season while the Jayhawks are 1-1 in true road contests.

Saturday’s game could come down to rebounding. Kansas, led by 10th-year head coach Brandon Schneider, has struggled on the boards with a -2.8 rebounding margin, the second-worst mark in the Big 12. Colorado is +8.2, which ranks fifth in the conference.

Offensively, guard Frida Formann leads the Buffs with 14.0 points per game and a 40.4% clip from deep. Kansas is fueled by guard S’Mya Nichols, who averages 22.0 PPG.

Tipoff between the Buffs and Jayhawks is set for 1 p.m. MT on ESPN+.

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Former Iowa RB finds second transfer portal landing spot

The former Iowa RB has his second transfer portal destination.

With the regular season for Iowa football (8-4, 6-3 Big Ten) and every other program complete, the transfer portal is set to open up for prospective athletes to utilize on Monday, Dec. 9.

Graduate transfers don’t have to wait around, though.

Former Hawkeyes running back Leshon Williams announced his intention to enter the transfer portal in early October. As a graduate transfer, Williams could get an early jump on his new location.

After initially committing to the Memphis Tigers on Nov. 26, Williams flipped his commitment and will be joining the Kansas Jayhawks next fall.

Williams finishes his Hawkeyes tenure with 1,324 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns on 319 carries. He also had 172 total receiving yards and one touchdown on 27 receptions.

On Monday, Williams announced his decision to join the Jayhawks via social media with a photo donning the Kansas uniform with a red and blue heart in the caption.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DDFcABuuGIo/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

The 5-foot-10, 214-pound running back carried the ball 170 times for 821 yards and one touchdown while starting the majority of the Hawkeyes’ games in 2023, but a leg injury suffered during this past season buried Williams on the depth chart behind Kaleb Johnson and Kamari Moulton.

Williams will arrive in Lawrence, Kan., as a sixth-year senior with one year left of NCAA eligibility.

Iowa is set to return redshirt freshman Kamari Moulton and redshirt sophomore Jaziun Patterson to its backfield for next season. Iowa signed Nathan McNeil in its 2025 signing class as well.

Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions.

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Duke basketball breaks into the top 10 of the AP Poll before Auburn game

Before Wednesday’s clash with Auburn, the Duke Blue Devils jumped back into the top 10 in the latest AP Poll on Monday.

The Associated Press released its updated AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll on Monday, and the Duke Blue Devils jumped up two spots to No. 9 as the highest-ranked two-loss team.

Despite a 75-72 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks last Tuesday, Duke’s 941 votes in this week’s poll helped them leapfrog the Alabama Crimson Tide.

The Jayhawks held onto the No. 1 overall spot by a thread, but the Blue Devils’ upcoming opponent made up quite a bit of ground. The Auburn Tigers picked up 26 first-place votes after they defeated the Iowa State Cyclones, North Carolina Tar Heels, and Memphis Tigers in three consecutive games to win the Maui Invitational.

Duke hosts Auburn at Cameron Indoor Stadium this coming Wednesday, giving the Blue Devils a chance at their second top-25 win of the season.

Two other SEC schools, the Tennessee Volunteers and Kentucky Wildcats, followed suit in third and fourth. The Connecticut Huskies, two-time defending national champions, tumbled all the way down to 25th after three straight losses in Maui, and the 4-3 Tar Heels slipped down to 20th.

Duke basketball rises one spot in USA TODAY Sports coaches poll despite Kansas loss

The voters in the USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll didn’t punish the Duke Blue Devils for their 75-72 loss to No. 1 Kansas.

The Duke men’s basketball team lost its second game of the season last Tuesday, a 75-72 neutral-site loss to No. 1 Kansas, but coaches around the country didn’t seem particularly concerned with the performance.

The Blue Devils rose one spot to No. 9 in the USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll on Monday, making them both the highest-ranked ACC team and the highest two-loss team in the standings.

The Jayhawks, still undefeated after they held off [autotag]Cooper Flagg[/autotag] and his teammates down the stretch, maintained their hold atop the board with 19 first-place votes. However, after wins over the Iowa State Cyclones and North Carolina Tar Heels in Maui, the Auburn Tigers earned 12 first-place votes to close ground on Kansas.

Auburn, of course, comes to Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday for Duke’s fourth top-25 opponent in six games. The Blue Devils are 1-2 in ranked battles so far this season, but they’re 4-0 at home and haven’t won a game in Durham by fewer than 22 points.

The Tennessee Volunteers, Marquette Golden Eagles, and Iowa State Cyclones followed Auburn within the top five. The Tar Heels, with two losses in Maui to drop down to 4-3 for the year, nearly dropped from the rankings at No. 22.

Check out the complete USA TODAY Sports men’s basketball coaches poll below.

Rank Team Record Points
1 Kansas 7-0 760 (19)
2 Auburn 7-0 755 (12)
3 Tennessee 7-0 694
4 Marquette 8-0 646
5 Iowa State 5-1 629
6 Kentucky 7-0 628
7 Purdue 7-1 535
8 Gonzaga 7-1 517
9 Duke 5-2 472
10 Oregon 8-0 457
11 Wisconsin 8-0 450
12 Alabama 6-2 441
13 Florida 8-0 427
14 Cincinnati 6-0 376
15 Memphis 6-1 265
16 Baylor 5-2 262
17 Illinois 6-1 234
18 Houston 4-3 221
19 Pittsburgh 7-1 213
20 Ole Miss 6-1 139
21 Oklahoma 7-0 111
22 North Carolina 4-3 96
23 Michigan 6-1 90
24 Texas A&M 6-2 86
25 Michigan State 6-2 73

Dropped Out

No. 2 UConn; No. 15 Indiana; No. 19 Creighton; No. 21 Arkansas; No. 22 Xavier; No. 23 Arizona

Receiving Votes

UConn 63; San Diego State 56; Texas 54; Mississippi State 39; Arizona State 39; Drake 34; Texas Tech 32; Arkansas 28; UCLA 17; Xavier 16; BYU 16; Ohio State 15; Utah State 13; Saint Mary’s 12; Dayton 10; St. John’s 8; Nebraska 8; Indiana 8; Creighton 8; West Virginia 5; Maryland 5; Clemson 5; Georgia 3; Arizona 2; UC Irvine 1; Nevada 1

Duke basketball remains second in ESPN BPI rankings despite Kansas loss

Despite Tuesday’s loss to the Kansas Jayhawks, Duke stayed put in the Basketball Powder Index produced by ESPN.

The Duke Blue Devils lost for the second time in four games on Tuesday night, a back-and-forth battle with No. 1 Kansas resulting in a 75-72 defeat, but the Basketball Power Index produced by ESPN still believes in [autotag]Jon Scheyer[/autotag]’s team.

As of Wednesday morning, Duke remains second behind only the Houston Cougars, another two-loss team. ESPN Analytics considers the Blue Devils the best offense in the country, which might be a bit surprising for fans who watched the slow start against Kansas, but Duke is averaging 82.5 points per game while shooting 37.8% from 3-point range this season.

While KenPom, another popular analytics site, considers Duke’s defense the best in the nation, ESPN BPI ranks it third behind the Cougars and Tennessee Volunteers. The combination still makes the Blue Devils a dangerous team, and ESPN Analytics projects they’ll finish with 25.7 wins in a 31-game regular-season schedule with more than an 80% chance to win the ACC.

The Kansas Jayhawks, still undefeated after Tuesday and still the top-ranked team in the country, moved up three spots to seventh in the BPI rankings with their victory. The North Carolina Tar Heels, who also lost for the second time this season on Tuesday night, tumbled five spots to 11th.

Where are the Duke Blue Devils in the KenPom rankings after their loss to Kansas?

Check out where the Duke Blue Devils ended up in the KenPom rankings after their 75-72 loss to Kansas in Las Vegas.

After their 75-72 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks on Tuesday night, the Duke Blue Devils slipped down to fifth in the Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings produced by KenPom.

Despite two losses in three ranked games, the adjusted efficiency margin still believes in Jon Scheyer’s team. The Duke offense slipped from the top 10 as the Blue Devils are now averaging 118.1 adjusted points per 100 possessions, but they still measure out as the best defense in the country.

Coincidentally, the Jayhawks and Kentucky Wildcats, the two teams that beat Duke already this season, remain below the Blue Devils. Kansas only rose to seventh while the Wildcats remain 12th.

The Auburn Tigers, who come to Cameron Indoor Stadium for a December 4 game, now sit atop the perch as KenPom’s top team in the country. The Tigers took down the Houston Cougars, who started the season in first, before beating the Iowa State Cyclones and North Carolina Tar Heels in Maui.

Gonzaga, Houston, and the Tennessee Volunteers are the only other teams above Duke. UNC, also with two losses already this year, now sits 13th.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer admired how his team fought back into the game against Kansas

While the Blue Devils didn’t take down No. 1 Kansas on Tuesday night, Jon Scheyer appreciated how his team battled back from a rough start.

The college basketball world saw the Duke Blue Devils come up short against the Kansas Jayhawks on Tuesday night, an effort doomed by a turnover in the final five seconds. Head coach Jon Scheyer saw his team battle back from a nightmare start.

The Blue Devils dropped into a quick 16-3 hole when the Jayhawks made six of their first seven shots, including a trio of 3-pointers, in the opening four minutes. Despite facing a mountain from the opening bell, however, Duke scratched and clawed to hang around before rattling off a 16-4 run of its own to tie the game with 3:34 left until halftime.

“It would have been easy to fold in that kind of game,” Scheyer said. “We just kept fighting and kept fighting… I thought the character and the heart of our team really showed tonight.”

Veterans Maliq Brown and Tyrese Proctor really engineered the first-half comeback. The duo combined for 16 points after making five of their six shots, including three 3-pointers from Proctor. Brown also tallied three steals before the midway point.

“To me, it’s character,” Scheyer said. “It’s either you have a competitive spirit or you don’t…I think it says a lot about our group that we just kept fighting.”

Duke coach Jon Scheyer breaks down what he wanted from final possession against Kansas

After Tuesday’s loss to No. 1 Kansas, Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer explained what he drew up on the second-to-last possession.

Duke basketball fans weren’t sure exactly what head coach Jon Scheyer drew up for the potential go-ahead possession in the final seconds against Kansas on Tuesday, but they could tell it didn’t turn out the way he envisioned.

With the Blue Devils trailing the Jayhawks 73-72 with less than 20 seconds on the board, Duke freshman [autotag]Kon Knueppel[/autotag] held the ball at the top of the key. He scanned for a moment before breaking toward the basket, but he never generated any space from the Kansas defense. He spun around for a potential floater, but two arms rose with him to contest the look, and his ensuing desperation pass gave the ball back to the Jayhawks.

When Scheyer spoke to the media after the game, he made a similar case to the one he made after the Kentucky Wildcats loss earlier in the season: who had the ball mattered more than what he drew up.

“Kon and Cooper (Flagg), they had a great two-man game and they were making plays the whole second half,” Scheyer said. “(Kansas was) getting messed up with the switching, whether they were switching or not, and we were looking to get Kon downhill or right back to Cooper and then he’d be downhill.”

While Knueppel made just four of his 14 shots (and none of his eight 3-point attempts), he still finished with 11 points and eight assists. After Kansas held Flagg to two points on two shots in the opening half, the freshman phenom scored 11 after the break to finish with 13.

“End of the day, I feel as a coach, you want the ball in your best player’s hands,” Scheyer concluded. “Kon and Cooper made so many plays throughout the whole second half…I’m taking the ball in their hands any day of the week. We just have to execute better.”