Although it is disappointing that the Kansas Jayhawks won’t play for a national championship tonight, there can be no disappointment with the outstanding season turned in by this year’s KU team.

The Jayhawks’ season came to an end Saturday night in the Final Four in San Antonio when they were overwhelmed by a terrific Villanova team by a score of 95-79. The Jayhawks finished with a record of 31-8.

The final game of the 2017-18 season will fade from memory soon enough, but this Kansas team’s accomplishments should not be forgotten.

These Jayhawks will be remembered for the way they fought through midseason struggles and captured an NCAA-record 14th straight Big 12 conference regular-season championship. The streak of titles broke the record of 13 straight conference titles won by legendary coach John Wooden’s UCLA teams from 1967 through 1979.

The Jayhawks will be remembered as well for winning three straight games to capture the Big 12 Conference Tournament championship despite not having starting center Udoka Azubuike, who strained his medial collateral ligament prior to the tournament, for any of the games.

The Jayhawks will be remembered for winning more games over top competition than any team in the country to again secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They will be remembered for making it to the Elite Eight round for the third straight year. But unlike 2016 and 2007, this time the Jayhawks found a way to win, besting Duke 85-81 in overtime to win the Midwest Region in one of the most memorable basketball games of the year.

Perhaps most of all, this year’s team will be remembered for its players, starting with senior guard Devonte’ Graham, a first-team All-American and Big 12 conference player of the year. Coach Bill Self called Graham one of the best leaders the Jayhawks have ever had.

They will be remembered for sophomore guard Malik Newman, a transfer from Mississippi State, who struggled to fit in with his new team for much of the season but caught fire at the end, winning Big 12 Tournament MVP honors and then leading the Jayhawks in scoring in the NCAA Tournament, including going for 32 in the aforementioned win over Duke.

They will be remembered for Svi Mykhailiuk, the Ukrainian guard who had a breakout senior season that included setting the KU record for most 3-pointers. They will be remembered for Azubuike, who led the nation in field goal percentage and dominated inside. They will be remembered for the athleticism of Lagerald Vick and the bench contributions of sophomore Mitch Lightfoot and freshmen Marcus Garrett and Silvio de Sousa.

The Jayhawks came up a couple games short of their goal of winning a national title, but they certainly didn’t let anyone down. To the contrary — the Jayhawks turned in a 2017-18 season that will long be remembered for all that the players and coaches accomplished.