KU’s 10 titles the talk of the college hoops world

photo by: Nick Krug

The Kansas student section pays tribute to the Jayhawks' tenth-straight conference title following their 83-75 win over Oklahoma on Monday, Feb. 24, 2014 at Allen Fieldhouse.

photo by: Nick Krug

The Kansas student section pays tribute to the Jayhawks' tenth-straight conference title following their 83-75 win over Oklahoma on Monday, Feb. 24, 2014 at Allen Fieldhouse.

So, you might have heard Kansas University’s men’s basketball team has been fairly successful in the Big 12 for the past 10 years.

Here is where you quote Cecil Terwilliger from an episode of “The Simpsons” in which his brother, Sideshow Bob, admits he has had some legal troubles:

“Goodness, I had no idea! For you see, I have been on Mars for the last decade, in a cave, with my eyes shut and my fingers in my ears.”

Once the Jayhawks earned their 10th conference championship in a row by beating Oklahoma on Monday night, the rest of the college basketball world began acknowledging the incredible run from afar without being so snarky.

Here are some of the highlights from around the web:

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas head coach Bill Self raises up two palms in light of the the Jayhawks' tenth-straight conference title following their 83-75 win over Oklahoma on Monday, Feb. 24, 2014 at Allen Fieldhouse.

• SI.com’s Brain Hamilton examined Bill Self’s 10 regular-season championships and pitted the feats against each other.

Hamilton then offered his top three performances. As he put it, these seasons posed the “greatest threat to the streak.”

No. 1: 2008-09 — Five new starters and finished 14-2

No. 2: 2013-14 — Five new starters and currently 13-2 with three games to go

No. 3: 2005-06 — Five new starters and finished 13-3

The selection of ’08-’09, the season after Kansas won the national championship, as No. 1 was pretty simple for Hamilton:

“Every element was there for a
drop-off, maybe even a prodigious one,
after the core of the Jayhawks’
national title team (including top
reserve Sasha Kaun) departed.”

Go read his full post for his breakdown on the three seasons worth of impressive coaching jobs.

• Yahoo Sports writer Jeff Eisenberg compared KU’s conference title streak to runs of dominance by other teams, and in other sports, including the professional ranks.

Check out the full list, which includes the most consecutive division titles in MLB history (14 by the Atlanta Braves from 1991-2005) and most consecutive division titles in NBA history (nine by the Boston Celtics from 1957-65 and nine by the Los Angeles Lakers from 1982-1990).

• At SportingNews.com, Bill Bender threw out some of the gaudy numbers associated with the Kansas run.

Bender rattles off some of the W-L totals from the past 10 years in a list documenting KU’s success. One of the more impressive stats: Kansas hasn’t lost more than four Big 12 games in a single season during its 10-year reign at the top.

Twitter roundup

In the hours following the Jayhawks’ victory on Monday, college hoops aficionados throughout the Twitterverse paid homage not only to KU’s Big 12 title streak, but also to the Jayhawks and where they are as a unit at this point in the season. Below are some of the highlights:

Dick Vitale yelled “Dickie V” type things via social media:

Seth Davis weighed in on Self…

… the streak…

… the play of point guard Naadir Tharpe…

… and on KU’s title potential this season.

Fran Frachilla, who was on the ESPN broadcast of the historic victory Monday, always is complimentary of Self:

KU’s title streak impressed Jay Bilas…

… Clark Kellogg…

… and Kentucky beat writer Kyle Tucker, of The Courier Journal, too.

And ESPN.com’s Myron Medcal said KU is capable of playing at an even higher level.

In non-title streak news…

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas center Joel Embiid gets his hand caught in the net as he tries to block a shot by Oklahoma guard Buddy Hield during the second half on Monday, Feb. 24, 2014 at Allen Fieldhouse.

• The folks at rushthecourt.net put together a different kind of top 25 this week.

For this experiment, eight different voters ranked their top 25 teams in the nation based on which team is most likely to make the deepest run in the NCAA Tournament.

Kansas came out as the No. 1 team, followed by Florida, Arizona, Michigan State and Louisville.

None of the eight pollsters ranked KU lower than fourth. The two voters who chose Kansas as their No. 4 went with Arizona in the No. 1 spot.

The article also includes some reasons KU could run into trouble in March Madness. Brian Otskey points to turnovers and a high foul rate for the Jayhawks, among other things.

• ESPN.com’s C.L. Brown thinks Kansas looks tournament-ready after the Jayhawks’ Big Monday win over Oklahoma.

“If you aren’t yet familiar with
(Joel) Embiid or any of the Jayhawks,
you might want to learn their names.
They look like a team that’s going to
be playing for a while come tournament
time.”

• At bleacherreport.com, writer Jason King says Joel Embiid is the best NBA prospect out of Kansas since Danny Manning.