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SAN ANTONIO | Perhaps no Kansas basketball player appreciates the Jayhawks’ hoops and football success more than forward Darrell Arthur.
Arthur’s cousin, Dexton Fields, is a Jayhawks wide receiver who led the team with 63 catches, including a team-high seven in the Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech.
“It’s been a pretty good year for both of our teams,” Arthur said. “Better than pretty good.”
Probably the best ever. When the football team wins a major bowl game and the basketball team reaches the national title game, it’s time to compare the school year with some of the best ever, especially if the Jayhawks defeat Memphis in tonight’s game.
For this school year, nobody touches Kansas.
The Jayhawks were one of two schools to finish in the top 10 in football and basketball. They were seventh in the final Associated Press football poll and fourth in basketball.
Texas, the only other school at the top-10 table, was 10th in football and seventh in hoops.
“There’s no reason why a school can’t be successful in both sports,” Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins said. “It should be expected.”
Football was the surprise. The Jayhawks’ 12-1 season set a school record for victories, and they never had a bigger moment in the program’s history than the victory over the Hokies.
Kansas didn’t lose a step in basketball, taking a 36-3 record into tonight’s game.
But it’s basketball, and Kansas is supposed to win. Perkins doesn’t buy the notion that one sport’s success comes at the expense of another.
“We shouldn’t be known as a basketball school or a football school,” Perkins said. “We should be known as the University of Kansas, where all of its sports do well.”
Kansas is having a Florida-type year. In 2007, the Gators became the first to win national titles in football and basketball.
Perkins and his administration arrived in 2003, and both head coaches were already in place. Bill Self had replaced Roy Williams a few months earlier, and football coach Mark Mangino had been hired in 2001.
“We had the right coaches. We wanted to give them the necessary things to win,” Perkins said.
Things like new football facilities and extended contracts. Mangino makes $1.6 million annually. Self is at $1.37 million, but his deal is likely to be restructured after this season. His championship-game appearance, plus the probable pursuit from alma mater Oklahoma State, which fired Sean Sutton last week, could make Self among the game’s highest-paid coaches.
Self and Perkins brushed aside Oklahoma State talk on Sunday.
“That hasn’t even been a thought,” Self said. “That’s not out of disrespect; it’s because I’m not going to let it happen. My focus has been here and now.”
Perkins said Self has told him, “(Kansas) is where I want to be.”
For this school year, Kansas is the place to be, no matter the season.
| School | FB | BB |
| Kansas | 12-1 | 36-3 |
| Texas | 10-3 | 31-7 |
| Tennessee | 10-4 | 31-5 |
| West Virginia | 11-2 | 26-11 |
| BYU | 11-2 | 27-8 |
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