KU Jayhawks’ loss ends another Bill Self streak — perhaps as unbreakable as his first
Kansas basketball will not be ranked next week, and that’s a strange sentence to type because it’s something that hasn’t been a fact in more than a decade.
Following Saturday’s 91-79 road loss to West Virginia, the 23rd-ranked Jayhawks will not make The Associated Press Top 25 on Monday, and even coach Bill Self admits that’s how it should be.
Results are results, and KU hasn’t gotten enough positive ones lately. The Jayhawks have lost five of their last seven — that includes five in a row on the road — and haven’t been able to stay competitive enough early to give themselves a chance to win most of their recent games in the final minutes.
It’s still worth taking a step back, just for a moment, to reflect on Self’s lesser-known “Streak” ... but one that is plenty impressive in its own right.
The last time the Jayhawks were not ranked was Jan. 26, 2009. Barack Obama was 10 days into the first week of his presidency. The most popular cell phone was the iPhone 3G. Mark Mangino was KU’s football coach, and we were in a world without iPads ... those only came along more than a year later, released by Apple in April of 2010.
When other blue bloods had ups and downs, KU had unprecedented consistency. The Jayhawks didn’t fall outside the top 20 in the entire 2010s decade, with fellow blue bloods Duke, North Carolina and Michigan State all experiencing turbulence from season to season or even week to week.
KU, thanks mostly to Self, never did. The Jayhawks were steady as the sunrise, even as the world (and college basketball) consistently changed around them.
This sustained dominance is unparalleled. KU’s 231 straight weeks in the poll is the most all-time — the AP ranking goes back to 1948 — and topped the previous mark of 221 set by UCLA from 1966-80.
“During the good and the bad runs, the guys were always able to minimize the negative and maximize the positive,” Self said Saturday.
And that’s one of the biggest reasons for Self’s frustration this season. This team — to borrow his expression — has “tasted its own blood” many times in experiencing adversity.
With previous teams, that was the signal to fight back harder. This year, for whatever reason, that type of pressure has resulted in something different, with players who became less confident instead of more so.
Some of the downtick, frankly, is not on the players. In three of the losses — including Saturday against West Virginia — the Jayhawks ran into a team that shot so well that few programs in America could have remained competitive.
For example, KU rallied to tie things in the second half ... until Miles McBride buried a shot-clock-running-out three over Christian Braun’s outstretched arm.
The Jayhawks answered with a two, then played good defense for 29 seconds until ... Taz Sherman hit a stepback three over the top of another deep challenge from Braun.
Maybe KU’s players could still handle adversity better, as Self has desired for a while now. But if the Jayhawks in fact did struggle to respond to West Virginia making so many difficult second-half shots, it’d simply make them human, especially during a five-week stretch where Texas and Tennessee also shot the lights out in games where KU could do little but tip its cap to an outlier shooting performance from its opponent.
Self has vowed to play the long game with this team, searching for big-picture answers even if they come at the expense of short-term losses. The Jayhawks need to find a higher ceiling by March, and the last few games haven’t been totally negative in that regard, especially with guard Jalen Wilson re-emerging with some confidence offensively in Saturday’s defeat.
It remains difficult, though, for Self to stomach a stretch like this, unlucky or not. Previous KU teams were in similar spots with their backs against the wall while finding a way to respond.
He’s still waiting on these Jayhawks to do just that.
The encouraging part for KU is it’s not too late. March Madness remains weeks away, and some numbers seem bound to swing back the Jayhawks’ way.
Here’s an example: Eight of the Jayhawks’ last 10 opponents have shot at least 38% from three ... and research tells us that’s a trend that simply won’t continue.
It’s all of small consolation for Self in the moment. His greatest accomplishment as a hall of fame coach has been his 14 consecutive Big 12 titles, but beyond that, no streak has been more impressive than the last 231 weeks in the AP poll — a feat he admitted Saturday was “remarkable.”
“It’s sad it’s going to come to an end and those sorts of things,” Self said, “but all we can do is hopefully play well enough to start another one.”
There’s a chance for KU to do that this season. The schedule is about to lighten up, and the shooting gods are likely to smile on the Jayhawks at some point soon.
It still won’t feel the same come Monday, with fifth-graders in Kansas about to experience a world they never have.
KU will not be considered one of the best 25 teams nationally.
With Self’s second-best streak expiring after a long and historic run.
