Big 12 basketball may be stacked but it still has a Kansas problem. The Jayhawks are killing this league through no fault of their own.
This year was set up for some team other than Kansas to win the Big 12 title, but the Jayhawks are going to do it again. Sixth-ranked Kansas came to the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman as the ’dog to the third-ranked Sooners but left with a 76-72 win.
In case you are counting, and barring an unforeseen collapse, KU is likely going to earn at least a share of its 12th straight Big 12 championship.
It is a highly under-appreciated achievement, but it should not happen in this era.
…Big 12, shame on you. No one team in a power conference such as the Big 12 should routinely embarrass the rest of the league the way Kansas has for more than a decade. Not even Kentucky has done this in the SEC.
This is not the 1960s when UCLA was winning everything but NBA titles under Hall of Fame coach John Wooden. This is 2016 and countless teams are burning through cash to win in college basketball.
Whether it was Oklahoma, Iowa State or West Virginia, this was the year Kansas would finish second in the league.
Oklahoma has the college National Player of the Year in Buddy Hield, but on Saturday Buddy’s buddies failed him, and Kansas has been through this enough that it is not easily spooked, despite the environment.
More than 12,200 people jammed into the Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday, along with ESPN’s College Game Day basketball crew. Also on hand were Oklahoma City Thunder coach Billy Donovan and former OU and TCU coach Billy Tubbs. They were all here to see KU’s streak essentially end.
http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article60272216.html
This year was set up for some team other than Kansas to win the Big 12 title, but the Jayhawks are going to do it again. Sixth-ranked Kansas came to the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman as the ’dog to the third-ranked Sooners but left with a 76-72 win.
In case you are counting, and barring an unforeseen collapse, KU is likely going to earn at least a share of its 12th straight Big 12 championship.
It is a highly under-appreciated achievement, but it should not happen in this era.
…Big 12, shame on you. No one team in a power conference such as the Big 12 should routinely embarrass the rest of the league the way Kansas has for more than a decade. Not even Kentucky has done this in the SEC.
This is not the 1960s when UCLA was winning everything but NBA titles under Hall of Fame coach John Wooden. This is 2016 and countless teams are burning through cash to win in college basketball.
Whether it was Oklahoma, Iowa State or West Virginia, this was the year Kansas would finish second in the league.
Oklahoma has the college National Player of the Year in Buddy Hield, but on Saturday Buddy’s buddies failed him, and Kansas has been through this enough that it is not easily spooked, despite the environment.
More than 12,200 people jammed into the Lloyd Noble Center on Saturday, along with ESPN’s College Game Day basketball crew. Also on hand were Oklahoma City Thunder coach Billy Donovan and former OU and TCU coach Billy Tubbs. They were all here to see KU’s streak essentially end.
http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article60272216.html
