The 2009–10 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team represented the University of Kansas in the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, which was the Jayhawks' 112th basketball season. Their head coach was Bill Self, who was serving his 7th year. The team played its home games in Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas and are members of the Big 12 Conference. The Jayhawks finished the season 33–3, 15–1 in Big 12 play to capture the Big 12 regular season championship. They also won the 2010 Big 12 men's basketball tournament to earn the conference's automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. They earned the #1 overall seed in the entire tournament and were the 1 seed in the Midwest Region. They defeated 16 seed Lehigh in the first round and were upset by 9 seed Northern Iowa in the second round.
Pre-Season
On April 13, 2009 key players Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich announced that they would forgo the NBA draft and return for the 2009–10 season. The Jayhawks will return all players who saw significant minutes on last years Sweet 16 team. In early polls for the season, The Jayhawks were almost the consensus #1 ranked team for the 09–10 season, the only other team that was #1 in any other pre-season polls, was Michigan State, which defeated KU in the Sweet 16 of the 2009 NCAA tournament.
Departures
In the offseason the Jayhawks lost Senior walk-ons Matt Kleinmann and Brennan Bechard from the 2008–09 roster. On April 9, Quintrell Thomas and Tyrone Appleton announced their intention to transfer to other schools due to lack of available playing time. Appleton averaged 0.8 points on 2.2 minutes per game in 2008–09 and Thomas averaged 1.5 points on 5.4 minutes.
Thomas announced that he will be joining the UNLV squad, however will not be eligible to play until the 2010–11 season. Appleton transferred to Southwest Baptist University in Missouri.
Recruiting
In October 2008, the Jayhawks received commitments from a pair of five-star recruits, Elijah Johnson from North Las Vegas and Thomas Robinson of Washington, D.C. On Thursday April 23, 2009 McDonald's All-American Xavier Henry of Oklahoma City announced his intention to play at Kansas, prompting ESPN to name the Jayhawks as "the team to beat in 2010." The Jayhawks will add center Jeff Withey, who transferred from the University of Arizona, and C.J. Henry who will transfer from the University of Memphis to join his brother Xavier. C.J. will walk on as his tuition is paid by the New York Yankees who took him in the 2005 MLB Draft. Withey will not be eligible to play until the end of the fall semester.
Class of 2009
|-
| colspan="7" style="padding-left:10px;" | Overall Recruiting Rankings: Scout – 4 Rivals – 6 ESPN – 5 |}
Transfers
|-
|}
Accolades
Team: Big 12 Preseason #1 (unanimous) Blue Ribbon Yearbook preseason #1 team Sporting News preseason #1. Associated Press Preseason #1 ESPN/USAToday Preseason #1
Sherron Collins: Big 12 Preseason Co-Player of the Year John R. Wooden All-American and player of the year candidate Blue Ribbon Yearbook preseason all-American team candidate Associated Press preseason All-American
Cole Aldrich: Big 12 Preseason Co-Player of the Year John R. Wooden All-American and player of the year candidate Blue Ribbon Yearbook preseason player of the year candidate. Associated Press preseason All-American