When Kansas opens its Big 12 season against TCU in Fort Worth at the end of December, the Jayhawks will embark on a quest that can only be termed epic. Bill Self's team will be seeking its 13th consecutive regular-season conference championship. If the Jayhawks indeed hang another banner this season -- and the chances that they will are good -- KU will tie the mark for consecutive league titles set by UCLA between 1967 and 1979.
How big a deal would this be? Perhaps bigger than anyone will be able to fully put across. All the same, allow me to try.
Kansas has been the sport's most consistent team the past 12 seasons
Self's streak of consecutive league titles is an entirely just outcome stemming from one simple yet fundamental fact: KU has been arguably the most consistent team in the nation since 2005. And in terms of performance prior to Selection Sunday, you can replace "arguably" with "clearly."
The Jayhawks' only real competition for the "most consistently elite team since 2005" honor is Duke. KU and the Blue Devils are the only two teams that have arrived at Selection Sunday ranked in the top 20 at kenpom.com in each of the past 12 seasons. Of these two programs, only Kansas has been ranked in the top 15 at the end of 12 straight regular seasons.
Of course, the fact that the Jayhawks have won "only" (ha) one national title in that span, while Duke has won two, and that Self is 2-4 in the Elite Eight during his career at KU are pieces of evidence often cited as proof that Kansas is somehow falling just short of the pinnacle. It's true March has brought its fair share of disappointment to the Jayhawk faithful, but those letdowns should be seen in the context of a team that sets the highest expectations seen anywhere in Division I. KU has been seeded No. 4 or higher in every NCAA tournament since 2001. No other program comes close to matching that mark. (Duke's corresponding streak dates to 2008.)
Winning 13 consecutive league titles in any team sport is next to impossible
Even when we look at other sports, it's very difficult to find precedents for what Kansas is poised to accomplish. For example, the New England Patriots have seemingly been good forever, and they play in a division with just three other teams. With fewer competitors, a dominant team should be well-positioned to maintain its advantage over a long period of time.
Yet even the Pats' streak of AFC East titles stands at "just" seven in a row. Similarly, the NFL record for consecutive playoff appearances is nine (shared by the Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts). That's impressive, but it's a far cry from the 12 titles KU has already won in hoops.
The closest cross-sport equivalent to what we're seeing from the Jayhawks might be the Atlanta Braves, who appeared in 14 consecutive postseasons between 1991 and 2005 while recording "just" one World Series title (goodness, so many eerie parallels) in 1995. Then again, the Braves got 11 seasons out of Greg Maddux, 16 from Tom Glavine and no fewer than 20 from John Smoltz. That's 47 combined seasons from three Hall of Fame pitchers. If we gave Self that kind of continuity in elite personnel, who knows what numbers we'd see. (Are you listening, NBA?)
The Big 12 is far from an ideal candidate for total domination by one team
On occasion, one hears it intimated that KU's incredible streak is rendered an iota less incredible by the fact that the non-KU Big 12 is not perceived as being covered in NCAA tournament glory.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Granted, no single program has remained a consistent rival for Kansas over the past dozen years the way Duke and North Carolina are perennial foils for each other. Nevertheless, the league has produced no shortage of elite competition. During Self's run of league titles, the Big 12 has had no fewer than 21 non-KU teams seeded on the No. 4 line or higher in the NCAA tournament. Actually, with the exceptions of Texas Tech and TCU, every team currently in the league has secured such a seed at least once as a Big 12 member since 2005.
I compiled the pre-tournament KenPom rankings of the second-best team in each of the other five major conferences over the past 12 years and compared those numbers to the rankings given to the best non-Kansas Big 12 team each season. It turns out the Big 12, ACC, Big East and Big Ten all rate as more or less identical over that span, in terms of giving their best teams some stiff competition. (The SEC and Pac-12 have been more erratic in that department.)
Let there be no misunderstanding: KU has come by its amazing streak honestly and in a very tough league. If banner No. 13 does come to pass, it will be an achievement without question, asterisk or much in the way of precedent. Maybe Self should consider running for higher office after all.