Kansas opened up the 2024-25 season as the No. 1 ranked team in college basketball. After a disappointing campaign the previous year, Bill Self and his staff assembled a roster that, on paper, looked as good as any in college basketball.

Collectively, Shakeel Moore, Hunter Dickinson, AJ Storr, Dajuan Harris, Zeke Mayo, Rylan Griffen, David Coit, KJ Adams, and Flory Bidunga had Kansas fans dreaming about a third National Championship under Bill Self.

In the season opener, Kansas blasted Howard, 87-57. Self’s squad followed up that win by defeating No. 9 (ranking at the time) North Carolina 92-89, inside Allen Fieldhouse.

Kansas would go on to defeat Michigan State (77-69) in Atlanta, Ga., and No. 11 Duke (75-72) in Las Vegas, Nev.

On November 30, Kansas moved to 7-0 after dominating Furman, 86-51. Self’s squad, it appeared, was clicking on all cylinders.

For the 2024-25 Kansas squad, the outlook of the season began to slowly change shortly after the 35-point victory over Furman at home.

On December 4, Kansas dropped its first game of the season at Creighton, 76-63. Self’s squad, on December 8, lost its second straight game on the road — this time falling to Missouri, 76-67.

Following back-to-back losses, it looked like Kansas weathered the storm with convincing wins over N.C. State (75-60) and Brown (87-53).

However, on December 31, the unexpected happened when West Virginia stunned Kansas at home in the Big 12 opener. Down by as many as 18 points in the second half, Self’s squad pulled to within one point of WVU late in the game but failed to convert in the closing seconds.

Kansas finished the 2024-25 regular season (plus two Big 12 Tournament games) with an overall record of 21-12. In finishing conference play with a record of 11-9, the Jayhawks posted a 14-3 record at home, went 4-8 on the road, and 3-1 in neutral site games.

Ranked No. 1 at the beginning of the season, Kansas will enter Thursday night's NCAA Tournament opener against Arkansas unranked. Coming off what many consider to be a disappointing season, Self’s squad has a chance to make believers out of those who doubt they’ve got what it takes to make a deep run in March.

While addressing the media on Wednesday afternoon, Dajuan Harris said the vibes with the team are high on the eve of KU’s NCAA Tournament opener against Arkansas.

“The vibes are high, everyone is 0-0, so it's a new season, and it's March Madness, two coaches going at it,” said Harris. “We're really excited to play.”

KJ Adams, sitting next to Harris at KU’s media session on Wednesday, said, as a team, Kansas is excited and ready to play.

“I think mostly exciting,” said Adams. “Everybody is 0-0. Whatever happens, happens, and everybody is just ready to play hard and start that new season.”

This isn’t the first time that Kansas and Arkansas have squared off against each other on the hardwood this season. On October 25, Self’s squad lost to John Calipari’s Razorbacks, 85-69, in Fayetteville, Ark.

Thursday night's meeting between Kansas and Arkansas, without question, will have a completely different look and feel this time around. The game inside Bud Walton Arena was a glorified practice (exhibition) that was played in four quarters instead of two 20 minute halves.

Arkansas clearly got the best of Kansas back on October 25 but did so with Hunter Dickinson, Rylan Griffen, and Shakeel Moore watching from the bench. All three were out with different injuries and were unavailable on that night.

Dajuan Harris (26) and Rakease Passmore (11) were the only players to score in double-figures for Kansas, while the Razorbacks were led by D.J. Wagner (24), Boogie Fland (22), and Zvonimir Ivisic (18).

This time around, Dickinson and Griffen will play significant minutes and, according to Self, Moore has a chance to make his return to the court tomorrow night.

The news is good and bad for the Razorbacks. Guard Boggie Fland, who hasn’t played since Arkansas lost at Missouri on January 18, will make his return to the court against Kansas. However, Adou Thiero, who leads the team in both points and rebounds per game, is out with an injury.

When Kansas takes the court on Thursday night, they’ll do so about as healthy as a team can be this time of year.

“They're just really athletic,” said Adams. “They got into us the first matchup but it didn't matter — me and Dajuan played and they out-physicaled and out-toughed us and I think we'll be ready tomorrow.”

In that first meeting, Harris was as good as he’s been at any point this season. In scoring a game-high 26 points, Harris hit 11-of-17 field goals and was 4-of-5 from behind the arc. In 32 minutes of action, he dished out two assists, committed two turnovers, and was credited with three steals.

With the season on the line, Harris is focused on making a statement tomorrow night.

"Yeah, what KJ said,” said Harris. “They hit us in the mouth. They were ready and we weren't ready. We should be ready tomorrow. We have a great game plan. We have our big back. We run our offense through him, so really I'm just excited to play them again.

“We lost to them two years ago, and this is basically like a revenge game for me and KJ,” he added. “We want this game back. It's going to be really exciting to play.”