Do you remember what you were like ten years ago? For those of us that are math-challenged that puts us back in 2005. I know I was eight and a second grader, but I couldn’t tell you much beyond that. However, if you were to pose this question to University of Kansas head basketball coach Bill Self, he would probably tell you that he’s been winning and it would be hard to argue with him.
After his first season in the Phog in 2003-2004, the Jayhawks have either outright won or shared the Big 12 conference title every single year. That hasn’t changed this season what with Bill Self’s extremely talented 5th ranked squad that sits at 21-6 overall and poised to hoist up its tenth consecutive conference title with a victory tonight Mon. Feb. 24th over Lon Kruger’s Oklahoma Sooners.
Let that sink in for a moment… Now, that’s a level of dominance which has been exceeded by only three programs in NCAA history (the most consecutive conference titles belongs to the legendary John Wooden and his UCLA Bruins who won thirteen in a row). During this reign of terror over the Big 12 KU has posted a winning percentage of 94.9% at Allen Fieldhouse, made the Elite Eight five times, the Final Four twice and won the 2008 National Championship over Derrick Rose’s Memphis Tigers.
That simply does not happen-Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils duke it out with Roy Williams’ Tarheels among others for the ACC title every year and things won’t get any easier with Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse Orange and Rick Pitino’s Louisville Cardinals joining the mix, the SEC title seemingly rotates between John Calipari’s Kentucky teams and Billy Donovan’s Florida squads and it’s common knowledge that the Big 10 is always a dogfight. What Bill Self has accomplished is unprecedented in recent history.
That all being said, with the exception of this season, there’s one aspect to KU’s dominance that stands out the most: the lack of future NBA stars. Sure, KU usually has one or two players get drafted every July, but not usually at the top and the ones that are picked high i.e., Thomas Robinson and Ben Mclemore, haven’t made enough consistent contributions to warrant their draft status. In fact, the Kansas player from the Bill Self era to have the biggest impact on the next level is most likely Mario Chalmers who was chosen 30th overall in the 2008 draft and at best is merely a role player. To understand how much more impressive this makes KU’s accomplishments here’s a list of non-KU Big 12 players chosen in the top five during this time:
LaMarcus Aldridge, University of Texas-chosen second overall in the 2006 draft by the Chicago Bulls and subsequently traded to the Portland Trailblazers
Kevin Durant, University of Texas-chosen second overall in the 2007 draft by the Seattle SuperSonics (yes, the ‘Blazers could have had a team with Durant and Aldridge on it)
Michael Beasley, Kansas State University-chosen second overall in the 2008 draft by the Miami Heat
Blake Griffin, University of Oklahoma-chosen first overall in the 2009 draft by the Los Angeles Clippers
Tristan Thompson, University of Texas-chosen fourth overall in the 2011 draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers
Together these players have combined for two McDonald’s All American MVPs, three first team All American selections, three Big 12 Player of the Year awards, two Consensus National Player of the Year awards, two NBA Rookie of the Year awards, three NBA scoring titles, twelve NBA All-Star appearances, 1 All-Star game MVP and six All-NBA team selections. Granted a lot of these can be attributed to Durant, but I think you get my point.
Now, my first thoughts from this list include “Holy **expletive**, how has Texas not won a championship during this time???” and “How could Kansas have possibly beaten all of these teams?” The fact of the matter is that Kansas has defied the odds due to their unparalleled coaching and incredible player development under coach Self and has continued to remain a basketball powerhouse year after year (if only they could say the same thing about football).
As for tonight, I intend on curling up in a comfy chair and relaxing while watching freshmen Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid propel the Jayhawks to victory over the Sooners and, amazingly, to their tenth straight Big 12 Conference title.
