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3 Reasons Why to Bet on Kansas to win the College Basketball Title

3 Reasons Why to Bet on Kansas to win the College Basketball Title

Written by on November 30, 2016

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The University of Kansas is one of the blue-blood programs in college basketball history with 14 Final Four appearances and there national championships. In fact, the basketball team is so good at the school, the football team is usually one of the country’s worst because no football guys want to be overshadowed at a basketball school. Currently, KU is ranked No. 4 in the country and is +800 on college basketball odds to win it all. Here are three reasons it could.

3 Reasons Why to Bet on Kansas to win the College Basketball Title

Bill Self Is A Top Coach

Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski is the best college basketball coach alive. Then you have guys like Roy Williams at North Carolina, John Calipari and Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Self stacks up with any of those two or anyone else below Coach K. During his 13 seasons as head coach, Self has led the Jayhawks to 12 straight Big 12 regular season championships (2005–2016), two Final Four appearances (2008, 2012) and the 2008 NCAA championship. Self is a two-time National Coach of the Year (2009, 2012) and is one of four active coaches (along with Rick Pitino, Lon Kruger and Calipari) who has led three different teams to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament (Tulsa, Illinois, and Kansas). From 2006 to 2012, he had the best six-year record of any men’s coach in Division I history (197-29). Entering this week, Self had 390 wins at KU, 597 overall. When he won his 500th, Self tied for the ninth fastest in NCAA history. Entering 2016- 17, Self coached 780 games, which is how many it took Phog Allen to win his 600th.

Josh Jackson Could Be No. 1 Pick In 2017

Self won a big recruiting battle this year for Josh Jackson, and many NBA scouts believe he will be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2017 draft. He was ranked the No. 1 recruit in the country. Jackson averaged 26.9 points, 13.1 rebounds and 6.3 assists his senior season at Prolific Prep in California and was named co-MVP of the McDonald’s All-America Game. Jackson has had little trouble adjusting to college as he was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for the second time already this season on Monday. Named the Most Valuable Player of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic, Jackson averaged 17.0 points and 7.3 rebounds as Kansas posted a 3-0 record last week with wins against UAB (11/21), Georgia (11/22) and UNC Asheville (11/25). The Detroit native made 51.4 percent of his field goals while adding four blocked shots. For the season, Jackson leads Kansas with 5.8 rebounds per game while scoring 14.3 points per contest. He also has a team best seven blocked shots.

This Team Could Get Better

KU is off to a strong start, including a win over then-No. 1 Duke, despite frontcourt players Landen Lucas and Carlton Bragg struggling. The 6-foot- 10 guys began the season in the starting lineup but are coming off the bench for now. Bragg, a sophomore who was a touted freshman himself, has started five games this season and averages 8.0 points and 5.2 rebounds. The senior Lucas (4.5 ppg, 4.2 rpg, five blocked shots) also started the first five games this season “We’ll get there,” Self said. “Guards will go through a funk, too at some point in time this year. Hopefully not, but I’m sure it will happen. Right now our bigs are in a little funk scoring and rebounding the ball.” When Kansas advances to the 2017 NCAA Tournament it would be its 28th consecutive NCAA tourney appearance. The current 27 straight is tied for the NCAA Tournament longest consecutive appearance streak with North Carolina (1975-2001).