We are counting down the days to the start of the college basketball season.
If you’re reading this on the day is was published, we have 47 days to the official start of College Basketball, and 36 days until we can see the team in action against K-State (presuming it’s televised).
The Full Non-Conference Schedule:
- October 23rd — at Kansas State (exhibition)
- October 29th — at UNLV (exhibition)
- November 3rd — vs Cleveland State
- November 6th — vs Saint Louis (in St. Louis)
- November 9th — vs SIU-Edwardsville
- November 15th — vs Marquette (in Chicago)
- November 18th — vs Alcorn State
- November 20th — vs Le Moyne
- November 24th — vs Evansville
- November 27th — vs Arkansas Pine Bluff
- December 1st — vs Pittsburgh (ACC-SEC Challenge)
- December 6th — vs Kansas (in Kansas City)
- December 12th — vs Nebraska (in Kansas City)
- December 18th — at Indiana
- December 20th — vs Illinois (in St. Louis)
- December 22nd — vs Chicago State
After the last few years of a poor lineup of Q4 games in the non-conference schedule, Missouri pulled a 180 and have schedule as well as anyone in the country. On top of playing Illinois and Kansas as previously scheduled, the Tigers are playing neutral court matchups against SLU, Marquette, Nebraska, and a road game at Indiana. There’s no question Dennis Gates stepped it up.
Let’s Meet: the kansas jayhawks
We don’t really need this section, do we?
Missouri’s biggest rivalry is, without any doubt, the “school to the west.” KU has fielded a football team since 1890, and the only team they’ve played more than Missouri is Kansas State. And K-State has the lead by 2 games, despite Mizzou moving to the SEC 14 years ago.
The basketball situation is the same. K-State has played the jayhawks more times than Missouri, but both started playing in 1907. But thanks to Bill Self’s pout, the series stopped until 2021.
If you need more on them, I’ll link to last years preview, where I linked to a bunch of other pieces where I did my best to trash them.
Head Coach | Bill Self | 24th Season 648-167
Self is a guy I have a hard time saying nice things about. He’s a cheater, and when he was one of the few guys cheating he was nearly unbeatable. But since everyone else can pay players, the sledding has gotten a lot tougher.
I fully understand cheating was going on well before Self came around. I’m even aware that some of Mizzou’s best teams were assembled through less than legal methods. But few programs did it like KU did it. And few coaches did it like Self did it.
This is a weird stat, but Kansas hasn’t won the Big 12 title for the last three seasons. The last time that happened was before Bill Self was hired, from 99 through 2001. Self was hired in 2003, and after year one, KU won the league outright or tied for first in the next 14 seasons, that’s through the 2018 season. Since the Big 12 expanded to include Arizona and Houston, those two teams have run the league. The Jayhawks finished 5th in 2024, 6th in 2025, and tied for 3rd last year.
So yeah, Self is still very good at coaching. Kansas is still good at basketball. But they aren’t what they were.
Series History | Kansas leads 177-95
Last year I used the counter on Sports-Reference, which only went back to 1950. Nobody pointed out the shorting of some wins and losses. But Wikipedia has a much more accurate total.
Don’t worry this year I’m not going to use the Silvio De Sousa chair throwing picture. But this section is far more useful when it’s a team other than kU (or Illinois for that matter). You all know the series. You probably remember the big wins (2024, 2012, 2009, 2006) and you probably remember the big losses (last year, 2022, 2021, 2009 the second time, 2006 the second time).
But despite the Tigers lack of success against Self, this series still matters to fans. Missouri just needs to show up this year and whip the Jayhawks ass again.
What about the team now?
This team is likely to be similar to last years team in that a LOT of it depends on one guy. Fortunately for KU fans the Darryn Peterson is in the NBA along with his cramping issues. In his place is projected top overall pick Tyran Stokes.
Stokes was the top overall recruit in the 2026 recruiting class, and he’s a versatile forward who can do a little bit of everything on the floor. He’s big with long arms, and while he’s a physical specimen he’s still a skilled and capable player on the offensive end. If there’s a weakness, he’s not the best shooter but he’s adequate. He’s very clearly the best player on the roster and if he’s healthy and plays like he’s capable, he’ll make KU a Final Four contender.
The rest of the roster? It’s ok. But KU standards that is. Like a lot of teams, Kansas has been able to add some late 5th year bodies like Trey White and supposedly they’re still working on bringing Melvin Council back too. They also added Taylon Kinney, a top 20 point guard and former McDonalds All American. Plus Leroy Blyden Jr, a small point guard from Toledo out of the transfer portal. Blyden averaged over 16 points per game in the MAC last season in his freshman year.
From the portal is Keanu Dawes, an athletic big wing-forward from Utah, who averaged over 12 points per game last year. Christian Reeves is a former 4-star recruit who played well his most recent season at College of Charleston, but struggled to get off the bench at both Duke and Clemson. He’s spent most of the offseason getting healthy and was cleared to practice just a few days ago. But a sneaky good add is Radford transfer guard Dennis Parker, Jr. Parker is also a former 4-star recruit who didn’t play much at NC State, but shot the ball really well last year.
And then back are Kohl Rosario and Paul Mbiya, after both being lightly used last year. Rosario is an athletic wing, and Mbiya is a physical center.
The Jayhawks are ranked 11th in the early BartTorvik.com projections. A lot of that is because Stokes projects to be awesome. If Stokes is awesome, KU will be very good. I can’t help but think the surrounding talent they had around Peterson last year, is a little worse this season under Stokes. Either way Mizzou will likely be an underdog heading into this game. It might be the first time in the non conference they’ll be underdogs. Beat ku.