As expected, the penalties for the Kansas Jayhawks basketball program dating back to the NCAA cases involving the eligibility of Billy Preston and Silvio de Sousa, along with the recruitment of Zion Williamson, were handed out in the IARP case on Wednesday.
What shocked many, however, is that the punishment ended up being quite lenient.
There will be no college basketball postseason ban for Bill Self's team. Instead, the Jayhawks will forfeit their 2018 Final Four banner along with all of their wins from the 2017-18 (31 games in total) due to de Sousa playing while ineligible, as reported by Matt Norlander. Additionally, Self and the Kansas basketball program will be on probation for three years from the IARP, per Pat Forde.
While blue-blood rival Kentucky might have been hoping for harsher penalties for the Gamecocks, though, this punishment is actually a massive win for the Wildcats program.
Kentucky basketball back atop all-time wins list after Kansas' NCAA penalties levied
With the wins being vacated by Kansas as part of their punishment, Kentucky basketball is back to being the all-time leader in men's college basketball wins.
The Wildcats have retaken the lead with a 2,377 to 2,370 advantage over Kansas. Of course, Kentucky has still held bragging rights before taking the lead in that capacity as they've held a higher winning percentage in college hoops history, an advantage that's even greater now (.760 to .727).
However, John Calipari and the Wildcats will have work to do in order to keep that lead over Kansas on the all-time wins list in the 2023-24 season.
The Jayhawks are projected to enter the year as the No. 1-ranked team in the country while Kentucky might actually begin the year unranked, though that remains to be seen. Of course, Coach Cal will have high-upside talent that could shock some people and preseason rankings only mean but so much.
Having said that, the Wildcats are back atop the historical list. Now the task will be keeping it that way, which could be a tall order.
