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Kansas begins Bill Self’s 24th season with an almost entirely new roster, led by the No. 1 recruit in the country.
Tyran Stokes picked the Jayhawks over Kentucky and Oregon in late April, and that one decision flipped the outlook in Lawrence. The 6-foot-7 forward was named the Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year last week and landed on the preseason All-Big 12 team before playing a single college minute.
Kansas needed a talent like that. The Jayhawks lost all five starters from last season, including Daryn Peterson, who went No. 2 overall in the NBA Draft. Only three contributors are back, and the rest of the rotation is made up of freshmen and transfers.
The most important returner is Tre White. The 6-foot-7 wing won a temporary injunction in September that cleared him for a fifth season, so Kansas gets back a veteran who started every game for them last year.
The portal class is legit, too. Leroy Blyden Jr. (Toledo), Keanu Dawes (Utah), Dennis Parker Jr. (Radford) and Christian Reeves (Charleston) all arrive with real production. Add five-star point guard Taylen Kinney, who played with Stokes in middle school, and Self has more options than he did a year ago.
That said, March still hangs over this program. Kansas hasn’t reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since winning the 2022 national title, and last season ended on a buzzer-beater in a 67-65 second-round loss to St. John’s.
The betting market has Kansas in the second tier for now. The Jayhawks are tied with Houston behind Arizona in the Big 12 race, and they sit well back of co-favorites Florida and Duke on the national title board.
We break down our best bets for the Jayhawks in 2026-27, including their win total, futures, and why Stokes is my favorite Wooden Award bet. Plus, new users can bet $10 on college basketball futures and get $200 in Bonus Bets win or lose at bet365 Sportsbook.
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Kansas Jayhawks odds for the 2026-27 season
Where to bet on the Kansas Jayhawks
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Kansas Big 12 win total prediction
Kansas needs to go 13-5 in conference play to cash the over, one game better than last season’s 12-6 finish.
The home slate sets up nicely. The Jayhawks open Big 12 play Jan. 2 against West Virginia at Allen Fieldhouse, and they also host Colorado, UCF, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Baylor, Kansas State and Iowa State. Kansas should be favored in all nine, and they’ve won 43 straight home finales dating back to the 1983-84 season.
The road is where it gets dicey. Arizona and Houston were the only two schools to receive first-place votes in the Big 12 coaches’ poll, and Kansas has to visit both. Add trips to Iowa State, BYU, Utah, Cincinnati, Kansas State, TCU and Baylor, and five losses can pile up quickly.
Here’s the honest caveat: Last year’s team dropped games to UCF, West Virginia, Cincinnati and Arizona State. A roster this new will have a few clunkers, especially in January, when everyone is still learning where they fit.
What pushes me to the over is how many ways this team can score. Last season’s offense leaned on Peterson, and it sputtered when he was out. This group has Stokes, White, Blyden, and Parker, who dropped 53 points on Coppin State last December. Self won’t have to find his offense in one place, and that should help them avoid the bad shooting nights that cost them games a year ago.
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Kansas best futures bets for 2026-27
This is my favorite way to back the Jayhawks as a team. Kansas is tied with Houston as the 13th choice to reach Indianapolis, which feels low for a program with this much top-end talent.
The case starts with White. He averaged 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds last season and already knows what Self wants on both ends. That kind of continuity is rare on a roster with 11 newcomers, and it gives the young guards someone to lean on when things get tight.
The obvious knock is the drought. Kansas has been bounced on the first weekend four straight years, and no amount of preseason hype changes that until they actually break through.
That said, last season’s exit came down to one shot against a good St. John’s team. Getting to a Final Four takes some bracket luck, but it starts with having a player who can take over a game. Kansas has that in Stokes, and +750 leaves room for value.
Arizona is the rightful favorite at +215. The Wildcats won the league last season, reached the Final Four, and return the preseason Big 12 Player of the Year in center Motiejus Krivas. The coaches picked Kansas third, behind Arizona and Houston.
Still, Kansas brought in the type of transfers who tend to hold up in conference play. Dawes started all 32 games for Utah last season, averaging 12.5 points and 8.8 rebounds on 54.8% shooting, so he has no adjustment period in this league. Blyden won MAC Freshman of the Year and shot 41% from three on 188 attempts.
I’ll be upfront: This one is a smaller play than the Final Four. Arizona has the edge in continuity, and Kansas has to go to Tucson. But if Stokes is as good as advertised, the Jayhawks will be right there in February, and +350 is a fair price.
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Kansas National Championship odds
Florida (+570) and Duke (+600) are in a tier of their own at the top of the board. UConn and Illinois follow at +1350 and +1400, while Kansas sits at +2800, tied with Houston.
Self won’t let this team hide from good competition. Kansas ranked fourth nationally in strength of schedule last season, and they have seven power-conference opponents on this year’s nonconference slate. By January, nobody will have to guess how good this team is.
The concern is the frontcourt depth behind Dawes. Reeves had shoulder surgery this offseason, and Kansas is counting on Paul Mbiya to take a big step if Reeves isn’t ready. Kinney will also be a freshman running the point, and freshman point guards can be streaky in March.
At +2800, I’d keep this to a small bet. The Final Four ticket is the better way to play it, but this price likely won’t stick around if Kansas beats Kentucky in Chicago on Nov. 10.
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Kansas Wooden Award candidate
I already have a ticket on Stokes, and it’s my favorite college basketball future on the board.
Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr. is the favorite at +850, followed by Florida’s Thomas Haugh at +1000, Duke’s John Blackwell at +1200, and Illinois’ David Mirkovic at +1400. Stokes is next at +1700.
Freshmen have won the last two Wooden Awards, with Cooper Flagg and Cameron Boozer taking them back-to-back. Voters are clearly comfortable handing it to a first-year star, as long as he puts up big numbers on a winning team.
Stokes should get every chance to do both. He averaged 31.0 points, 13.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 4.0 steals as a senior at Rainier Beach, leading them to a 29-1 record and a state title. Self called him the most versatile young player he’s ever recruited, and he can play on the wing, initiate the offense, or slide to power forward.
The worry is that a No. 1 recruit at Kansas doesn’t guarantee anything. Peterson came in with the same hype last season and missed time, and Kansas finished tied for third in the league.
That said, Stokes has a 230-pound frame that’s built to handle a heavy workload, and Kansas will need him to carry the scoring load from day one. He’ll also get plenty of national exposure against Kentucky in the Champions Classic and Ohio State at Madison Square Garden. At +1700, that’s a lot of upside for the best freshman in the country.
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Kansas schedule analysis
Self-loaded up the nonconference schedule again. Kansas opens Nov. 2 at home against Fordham, hosts Middle Tennessee on Nov. 6, and then heads to Chicago’s United Center to face Kentucky on Nov. 10 in their 15th straight Champions Classic.
From there, it’s off to Las Vegas for the Players Era 8. Kansas opens against UNLV on Nov. 17, then faces Auburn or West Virginia the next day. Their third opponent on Nov. 19 will be Florida, Notre Dame, Houston, or Rutgers, so a showdown with the title co-favorites is possible.
After Thanksgiving, the Jayhawks return home for Denver on Nov. 23, Villanova on Nov. 27 in the first game of a home-and-home series, and Northern Iowa on Dec. 1. Then comes the Border Showdown with Missouri on Dec. 6 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
December doesn’t get any easier. Kansas visits UConn on Dec. 12, then takes on Ohio State at Madison Square Garden in the CBS Sports Classic on Dec. 19. They wrap up nonconference play at home against Indiana State and New Orleans, closing with the Privateers on Dec. 29.
Big 12 play starts Jan. 2 against West Virginia, followed by a tricky road swing at Utah on Jan. 6 and BYU on Jan. 9. That’s an early test for a young team, especially in two tough environments.
The Sunflower Showdown comes Jan. 23 in Manhattan, with Kansas State making the return trip to Lawrence on Feb. 27. The biggest road game on the schedule is Feb. 1 at Houston on ESPN’s Big Monday.
The stretch run is loaded, too. Kansas hosts Iowa State on March 1 for Senior Night, then closes the regular season at Baylor on March 6. The Big 12 Tournament runs March 9-13 at T-Mobile Center, about 40 miles from campus.
