KCKingdom
Fansided

Kansas Basketball: 5 reasons the Jayhawks won’t win their 14th straight Big 12 title

By Chris Taylor

LAWRENCE, KS - DECEMBER 18: Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks applauds his team during the first half against the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks on December 18, 2017 at Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Reed Hoffmann/Getty Images)
LAWRENCE, KS - DECEMBER 18: Head coach Bill Self of the Kansas Jayhawks applauds his team during the first half against the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks on December 18, 2017 at Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Reed Hoffmann/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 6
Next
Villanova guard Ryan Arcidiacono (15) loses the ball against Kansas guard Devonte’ Graham (4) in the first half during the finals of the NCAA Tournament’s South region at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday, March 26, 2016. (Rich Sugg/Kansas City Star/TNS via Getty Images)
Villanova guard Ryan Arcidiacono (15) loses the ball against Kansas guard Devonte’ Graham (4) in the first half during the finals of the NCAA Tournament’s South region at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky., on Saturday, March 26, 2016. (Rich Sugg/Kansas City Star/TNS via Getty Images) /

5 reasons the Jayhawks won’t win 14 straight

#5 Who are these Jayhawks?

It is not uncommon for teams in any sport to finally find their identity halfway through the season. Problems exist when those teams never find it. Bill Self has been here before. Plenty of his teams have gone into conference play with worse records than this season’s squad during the streak.

  • 05-06 4 losses
  • 08-09 4 losses
  • 11-12 3 losses
  • 13-14 4 losses

The two losses the Jayhawks have had so far can be blamed on identity as much as anything else. In the nine-point loss to Washington, Devonte’ Graham scored three points. The two previous games he scored 35 in both. The loss to Arizona State he scored 19 points, yet the defense and the shorthanded bench were absent. Only one point from the bench will not beat decent teams.

The defense has actually been surprisingly good this season. The 95 points given up was of course the highest total they’ve allowed. The second highest was 74, against Washington, also a loss. So if the Jayhawks can score 75 throughout the rest of the season, they should be just fine right?

Wrong.

Every Big 12 team in the league scores above an average of 75 points per game except Texas, who average 72. Two teams score more than the Jayhawks, Oklahoma and TCU. Five teams have a better scoring defense than Kansas, neither OU or TCU are one of them.

In fact the only major category the Jayhawks lead the Big 12 is 3-point field goal percentage. So who are these Jayhawks? The numbers say they are somewhere in the middle among Big 12 teams, and numbers do not lie. Middle class in the Big 12 will not win #14.

Home/Kansas Jayhawks