Around this time of year, the conjecture about which teams will go far in the NCAA Tournament kicks into high gear.

Everyone seems to find reasons for their teams to be seeded highly and go far, and most of these arguments center around qualitative arguments or incomplete statistical analysis.

At numberFire, we have lots of advanced analytics at our disposal to put the conjecture aside with the attempt to answer questions such as the one I'm posing today: How far can the 2015 Kansas Jayhawks go in the NCAA Tournament?

To answer this question, it's essential to put some context around the question.

The Kansas Jayhawks (24-6, 13-4 Big 12) just won their 11th straight Big 12 conference championship, a conference we rank as kenpom.com. Last year's team, a 2 seed that lost to Stanford in the second round, finished 12th in Pythagorean Rating, 14th in adjusted offensive rank and 31st in adjusted defensive rank.

Falling short of those components highlights that a Final Four may not be in the cards for the Jayhawks, as 80% of the teams that have made the Final Four since 2002 have finished in the Top 10 in at least one of the categories above.

When you peel the onion and look into 2015 stats, this Kansas team just doesn't jump off the page in any statistical category. Their best rankings, according to sports-reference.com, are in blocked shots and rebounding (23rd and 24th, respectively). They also turn the ball over frequently (rank 202nd in turnovers and 234th in causing turnovers), which makes things hard in a one game scenario when they are not hitting shots. Their 44.3% field goal percentage ranks 122nd among NCAA teams.

At their core, this is a very young team that doesn't play any seniors in its rotation and features freshmen and sophomores in the backcourt. Junior forward Perry Ellis is their best player, averaging 14.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per game (19.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per 40 minutes). However, Ellis missed most of last night's West Virginia game with a sprained knee and will likely miss a week . If Ellis' injury ends up being more significant, this would be a huge blow to the Jayhawks potential tournament success, as was the loss of currently the subject of an NCAA eligibility investigation.

Overall Conclusion

We've looked at several metrics and taken a historical perspective. In a year where Kentucky is dominant and teams like Virginia and Arizona are very strong defensively, this Kansas team has again won the toughest conference in college basketball while having played the toughest schedule. Though they don't play offense or defense at an exceptional level, winning the Big 12 and having such a strong strength of schedule will be rewarded by the tournament committee in a few weeks.

However, regardless of what seed they land, comparing this Kansas team to other teams in the Bill Self era, you'd have to think optimistically to see them get past the Sweet 16. Taking into account advanced historical metrics, the Final Four seems even more remote.