22. Kansas

No member of the 101st Jayhawks basketball team has visited the gravesite of Dr. James Naismith, which lies a few miles from the Kansas campus. That may not be a bad thing, for a keen sense of history is something these Jayhawks can do without. When last year's squad lost to Rhode Island in the second round of the NCAA tournament, it became the fifth No. 1- or No. 2-seeded Jayhawks team in the '90s to fail to advance past the Sweet 16. This prompts a simple question: What on earth goes wrong in the tournament? "All of the sudden we start playing not to lose," says senior guard Ryan Robertson. "I guess subconsciously we get a bit tight."

No one expects the Jayhawks to compete for the national title this season, not with the departures of All-Americas Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce, who accounted for 42% of the team's scoring in 1997-98. In their absence 7-foot sophomore center Eric Chenowith will be expected to step in and provide more scoring. After being cuffed around by LaFrentz last season in practice, Chenowith lifted weights four days a week this summer and swore off caffeine, carbonated drinks and fast food. The results: He added 25 pounds to his 240-pound frame and beefed up his bench press from 200 pounds to 285. "Eric's upside is way up there," says coach Roy Williams. "Guys who can move and have that size are at a premium."

Maybe so, but for the Jayhawks to win their fourth straight conference title, Williams needs his smaller, quicker players like Robertson, sophomore forward Kenny Gregory and freshman point guard Jeff Boschee to run his motion offense with Swiss precision. A few more healthy bodies in the frontcourt would also help; Lester Earl and T.J. Pugh had off-season surgery, and Ashante Johnson (fractured right patella) is out until early December.

Recently, Earl, Gregory and forward Nick Bradford challenged each other to a video-game version of the NCAA tournament. Alas, even in the sanctuary of their dorm rooms, the Jayhawks couldn't escape their program's recent history. Bradford (controlling Arizona) won; Earl (controlling Kansas) sailed through his first couple of games—only to lose before the Final Four.

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