While CBS Sports’ is high on several members of the Big 12 Conference heading into the 2025-26 season, the Kansas Jayhawks are not one of them.

Despite Bill Self’s squad featuring stars like , , and more, Rothstein believes that Kansas isn’t even a top-five team in the league on paper.

“If you said ‘Jon, give us your Big 12 preseason power rankings,’ Kansas would not be in the top five of the Big 12,” Rothstein said. “I’d go with Houston, BYU, Texas Tech, Arizona, and Iowa State. Kansas would not be a top-five team in the Big 12.”

“Right now, looking at the roster Kansas has assembled, I see nothing but questions,” Rothstein continued. “ coming off a major surgery, and he didn’t play last year. Darryn Peterson, one of the best freshman prospects in the country, is expected to be one of the top picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, but he’s a freshman. In 2025, you can’t depend on freshmen in college basketball.”

Rothstein also highlighted questions with Jayden Dawson, Tre White, and Flory Bidunga, which were met with some backlash on social media.

In addition to the pushback, Rothstein’s tweet was posted shortly before news broke about the Jayhawks being one of the leaders for Texas Tech transfer Darrion Williams.

He finished his thoughts by saying, “Kansas is two legitimate players away from being vintage Kansas.”

Will the Jayhawks get those two legitimate players? If Darrion Williams is one of them, it’ll be hard for Rothstein to say otherwise.