The strength of the conference will probably work in KUs favor this year since everyone is going to get beat up. They do look as weak as ever, though. They had to shoot lights out from 3 to beat Texas.
I think the strength of the conference is going to grind them to dust. They have no size, no depth, no true PG, and don't defend. They are going to get worse as the season progresses (if Preston gains eligibility, this will be mitigated somewhat) and are going to lose a lot of games.
If the name on the front of their jerseys wasn't Kansas, we would be talking about them as a bubble team more than a contender to win the conference. I'm confident than they'll finish ahead of Iowa State and Texas in conference. Beyond that, I'm sure they'll finish ahead of a few others, but I don't know who...probably Baylor I guess. Streaks like theirs don't end by getting caught at the tape. They're going to go down hard.