Kansas Basketball: Inconsistent play defines their 2017-2018 season so far

Kansas Basketball is treading through uncharted territories, as concern turns to fear among the Jayhawk faithful.

Another home loss for Kansas Basketball has sent the college hoops world into a tailspin. The 2017-2018 season has been filled with unthinkable firsts.

For the first time in Bill Self’s tenure at Kansas, the Jayhawks never led during a home contest. From start to finish the Texas Tech Red Raiders had control of the game. This latest defeat on their home floor was the worst home loss as well for Bill Self.

It’s the first time since the 1983-84 season they lost two at home by double digits. All these numbers are impressive as far as the program itself goes. For this year’s team, these are the exact things you do not want to happen

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Especially against a team like Texas Tech, who is now 1-17 all time at Lawrence. Tech is a top 25 program, but even their coach mentioned he didn’t expect to win at Allen Fieldhouse. These Jayhawks are proving to the nation that they can be beat, not only on the road but at home as well.

The Jayhawks looked great against a good Texas team in Austin during the conference opener, hitting 17 3’s. Against the Red Raiders the Jayhawks hit 6 of 26 3’s, missing all 12 attempts in the second half.

Bill Self blamed the loss on athleticism and want, which disgusted him to have to say. The proof of him being right can be found in the rebounding. The Jayhawks were out rebounded 44-29. Texas Tech plays a four guard system. That means the Jayhawks were simply outplayed.

Fear over concern

Where concern turns to fear is the fact that in almost two decades, this would be considered a major upset, now it appears that Kansas may not be the better team on a regular basis. Fear continues to mount as it seems quite evident that Tech isn’t comparable to the likes of West Virginia and Oklahoma this season. Early on Self suggested that he knew 13 and 5 would get them their 14th straight conference title.

At this rate, the Jayhawks are looking at 9-9. Now questions of being a top 25 team come into play, as well as postseason position. The streak of conference titles means little to nothing right now, as there are too many issues that need to be cleaned up.

Kansas Basketball is having a Jekyll and Hyde type of season. At times they look unstoppable, especially when they are knocking down 3’s. Other times they look slightly above mediocre, especially when they aren’t making 3’s. The problems run deep for Kansas. The failure to play hard at times has been obvious, and the combination of bad shooting and lack of effort has made the Jayhawks look real bad at times. Still, to date there is no good inside-out game being played.

On a good night the Jayhawks are really good. On those bad nights the Jayhawks look awful. Kansas fans have gotten used to looking good, even on those bad nights. All good things come to an end I suppose.

Relief

The timing of Billy Preston’s return and the quickness of how Silvio De Sousa can learn the system will lean this season towards a winning direction. The decision on Preston should come soon. The sky isn’t falling and North Korea hasn’t pushed any buttons yet. There is a lot of basketball left and plenty of reasons to be optimistic about this season.

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It is Kansas after all. The Jayhawks win, they figure it out and compete. Competing hard is step one. Cleaning up the rebounds is step 2. Those two combined can make up for bad shooting nights. Figuring out how to kick the ball back out to the perimeter for open shots would definitely be icing on the cake.

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