2018 Kansas Jayhawks

The 2018 Kansas Jayhawks finished with a record of 31-8 (13-5), winning both the Big 12 Regular Season and Conference Tournament. It earned a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament and made the Final 4 before losing. The team’s Sports Reference link is here.

Offense

The 2018 offense was led by Devonte’ Graham, both through his scoring and assisting. His true shooting was on par with the team’s, showing his shot frequency was at a reasonable level. The main inside scoring threat was Udoka Azubuike, who shot an insane 68.0% true shooting. Malik Newman developed into a solid offensive weapon. Svi Mykhailiuk as a starter and Silvio De Sousa as a developing reserve were other two positive Jayhawks on offense. As of the 2025 season, this was Bill Self’s second-best offense while at Kansas.

Defense

The defense was less effective than in years past. The team graded out as slightly better than a bubble defense, but compared to KU-level this was less-than-ideal. Its best defense was from wings Svi Mykhailiuk and Marcus Garrett. The team’s interior defense was lacking at times, specifically due to depth at the 5 position.

Adjusted PPG +/-

As far as typical KU teams go, the 2018 team was far more offense-heavy/defense-light than average. Regarding total value, the team was much weaker than 1-seeds historically. Still, it played great in March and made a run to the national semifinals. Devonte’ Graham played 94.2% of possible minutes, a record that will last a long time. At one point during conference play, he played 40 minutes in 10 straight games. But it was certainly needed. His +4.68 value score and 13 MVP’s were easily the highest on the team. Azubuike (+2.64, 7 MVP’s), Mykhailiuk (+2.11, 5 MVP’s), and Newman (+1.91, 9 MVP’s) were the other key pieces on the roster.

Total Points Above Bubble (PAB) Chart

Value 3-Way

Video Coverage

The 2018 season has a 99.4% coverage number, which is very good. The above value numbers only have a small amount of potential error (due to coverage, other error risks remain). Only 2 games of 39 are determined to be incomplete from a video coverage perspective. We are confident that the value scores reflected above accurately depict what the charting process is meant to show.

End of a Career

2018 was Devonte’ Graham’s senior season and capped off a four-year career that saw him lead his team to their first Final Four since 2012. Graham finished with 1,748 points in 4,498 minutes played (placing him 9th and 2nd of all Jayhawks since 1993). Also, he currently has the 11th-most career WAR and is 21st in terms of career PAB. Graham was a player who improved each year he was in Lawrence, and his durability and value his senior season contributed to KU winning yet another Big 12 title.

Svi Mykhailiuk was another four-year player who finished his KU career in 2018. Like Graham, Svi improved over the course of his career. Svi would finish with 1,181 career points in 3,070 minutes. He is 52nd in career WAR and 74th in career PAB (out of 194 total Jayhawks from 1993 – 2025).