"At various times in Kansas's run, the Big 12 has been the best or second-best conference in the country. (Per Ken Pomeroy, that's the case again this year; the Big 12 ranks behind only the Big 10 in overall strength.) At various times in Self's tenure, his competition has recruited and rostered the likes of Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, Acie Law, Tristan Thompson, James Anderson, Tony Allen, and D.J Augustin -- and that's literally just the NBA guys that first came to mind. I'm sure there are countless more worthy of inclusion, including future lottery picks like Perry Jones III, or stars like Jacob Pullen, or Missouri's unique lightning-in-a-bottle squad this season. Despite all that, Self has managed to recruit the Jayhawks as well as any coach who came before him. In many years, he's had an embarrassment of talented riches. The sheer fact that Thomas Robinson came off the bench last season should tell you that much. But even in seasons in which Self lost scores of former stars -- like in 2011, when he lost Cole Aldrich, Xavier Henry and Sherron Collins, or this season, when he lost two-thirds of his starting backcourt and both starting forwards to graduation and/or the NBA draft, and lost two incoming freshmen to partial qualifier status in the offseason -- he's managed to get the Jayhawks to the top of the league anyway. There might have been some NCAA tournament upsets along the way, and some have been more dramatic than others, but in the biggest sample sizes, against some of the best college hoops talent of the past decade, Self's Kansas program has prevailed. It's a ridiculous, mind-blowing run of success, and we don't talk about it enough."
If you'll forgive us the self-quote, that's us, writing all the way back on Feb. 27, 2012, after Kansas coach Bill Self had led his program to its eighth-straight Big 12 regular-season title.
Fast-forward three years, and Kansas is astride its league like a colossus. Iowa State's win against Oklahoma on Monday night guaranteed the Jayhawks at least a share of their 11th-straight conference title. Eleven straight! In the Big 12! That the 11th came in one of the best and most punishing editions of the league in decades is just icing on Self's already ridiculous cake. We don't like to quote our old writing. (We hate reading anything we've written, period.) But three years later, it's all still happening. Kansas is still insane. Update the details all you want, but what more is there to say?
ESPN Brennan
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/po
If you'll forgive us the self-quote, that's us, writing all the way back on Feb. 27, 2012, after Kansas coach Bill Self had led his program to its eighth-straight Big 12 regular-season title.
Fast-forward three years, and Kansas is astride its league like a colossus. Iowa State's win against Oklahoma on Monday night guaranteed the Jayhawks at least a share of their 11th-straight conference title. Eleven straight! In the Big 12! That the 11th came in one of the best and most punishing editions of the league in decades is just icing on Self's already ridiculous cake. We don't like to quote our old writing. (We hate reading anything we've written, period.) But three years later, it's all still happening. Kansas is still insane. Update the details all you want, but what more is there to say?
ESPN Brennan
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/po
