Deja Vu all over again

Last season the Jayhawks entered conference play with a 5.5% probability of winning the championship outright and a 12.6% probability of winning at least a share of the title. After 1 game the probabilities dropped to 3.7% and 9.3%. After 5 games we wer at 16.8% and 31.7% but still a distant 2nd to West Virginia. Last season the AP voters never quite fell in love with West Virginia but the computers did. West Virginia spent quite a bit of time in the top 2 of the composite computer rankings last season. Our 13th straight Big 12 championship looked like a long shot at best. Than game 6 rolled around. Last season game 6 was the Rocky moment for Kansas when the Rocky theme started playing and the team awoke from their slumber and started their quest in earnest. And as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story is that we did not just win the Big 12 but we won by 4 games going away. One thing last season, nay, the last 13 seasons has taught us is never count out the Jayhawks in Big 12 play. This season the probabilities looked even more bleak. We opened conference play with probabilities of 18.4% and 31.6%. But our loss to Texas Tech at home and our dismal performances against Iowa St and Kansas St. resulted in probabilities after game 5 of 2.4% and 6.6%. It seemed to be even less after 20 minutes of play in game 6. Then came the 2nd half. Let's not kid ourselves. Our probabilities will certainly increase after round 6 is finished after tomorrow night, but it is still going to be long odds. This was but a single game. But it was not just a single game. It is a 13+ season history with a world class coach, a best in class arena and heritage of winning. This was a single game, a great game, a cathartic much needed tougher than the opponent game in the toughest arena in the Big 12 not named Allen Fieldhouse. But what this game did was remind us that we are Kansas. We are still the champions. We will never give in and we will never back down. Last night it was the 8 players with their names on the back of their jerseys that we put on the floor plus the world class coaching staff that did most of the work to win this game. But don't ever doubt that it was a little part of the name on the front of that jersey that inspired those players and sent dread in the opponents down the stretch. This was one game that will move the probabilities some finite amount in a favorable direction. But it was far more than that. It was a reminder just who the rest of the Big 12 is messing with. They are called Jayhawks and that should bring fear and trepidation into every fan of our Big 12 foes. Rock Chalk Jayhawk.

I thought I would show this probability graph from last season. Never give up!!