Kansas opens its regular season against Fordham on Monday at 7 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse, and the matchup gives the Jayhawks their first game that counts after a preseason marked by two exhibition losses. It is also the first meeting between Kansas and Fordham since 1977.
That makes the search around Fordham Vs Kansas straightforward: this is not just another early nonconference game, but the first chance for Kansas to reset after exhibitions against Louisville and Duke. Fordham comes in on a different path, having won both of its exhibitions, one against UMBC and one against Fairfield, which gives Monday’s opener a sharper edge than the calendar alone would suggest.
Fordham’s side carries enough evidence to explain why it is not arriving as a placeholder. The Atlantic 10 program has been building under Mike Magpayo, who led it to a 17-15 record and an 8-10 mark in conference games last season. Rikus Schulte, who averaged 10.7 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals a year ago, was named to the preseason all-defensive team and second-team all-conference in the A-10 preseason poll. Fordham was picked to finish seventh in the league, while Akira Jacobs returns after shooting 33.3% on a team-high 132 3-point attempts last year.
The friction in Kansas is harder to ignore because the preseason results came first. Christian Reeves said both exhibition opponents were national championship contenders, and Trent Perry said the group needed to go back to the drawing board, come together as a team and family, and find a better way to finish games. That is the part Kansas has to answer Monday: how a roster that has already been tested in exhibition play responds once the record starts counting.
Fordham has its own history in the background, and it is not flattering. The Rams have not reached the NCAA Tournament since 1992 and have not finished with a winning record in league play since 2006-07. Yet the immediate reality is simpler than the long view. Kansas and Fordham have not played since 1977, and the next chapter begins Monday night in Lawrence, where Kansas will try to turn a shaky preseason into a clean start.
