Lack of hype over #14

I watched sports center and the afternoon programs, PTI and Around the Horn, after both the tech game and the Tx game (since both resulted in #14). Sports center noted it with their game wrap up and the other shows didn’t mention it at all. A the H I can maybe umderstand since they cover fewer topics but PTI covers a lot of topics. It’s a pretty big achievement, and beat a record that had stood for decades, and I was surprised at the lack of mention. And, of course, wondered if there would be more coverage if it had been UNC or dook?

Surely a 30 for 30 is coming. Dick Vitale made a reference to the 14 in a row is equivalent to a 56 game hitting streak. Here is why that is not far off and actually the hitting streak is a little more likely.

A .400 hitter getting 4 at bats per game and a 12.5% base on balls ratio would have a 35 in 1,000,000 probability of getting a hit in 56 straight games. A .350 hitter with the same base on balls ration would have a 1 in 1,000,000 probability of hitting in 56 straight.

The last three seasons I have rigorously tracked the probability of KU winning the Big 12 going into the conference season. It has averaged about 27%. If you assume that is an anomaly and the real average over the last 14 seasons (including 2006 and 2009 where we were not even in the top 25 at the time) and use an average of KU at 35% against the field, the probability of 14 in a row would be 1 in 2.500,000. Even if you assume a huge 50% probability of KU against the field average for all 14 years the probability is 61 in 1,000,000 or 1 in 16,000. No matter how you slice it, this is a huge accomplishment.

Here's the problem: coaches appreciate the feat, which is why they're the ones talking about it. Other than KU fans, other players, fans and the sport in general don't care at all. Or if they care, it's a fleeting thought. I couldn't tell you how many times Duke, Carolina or Kentucky have won their conference, nor do I really care.

If one of them pulled off 14, I'd probably say "great", and then see where they would be seeded in the upcoming tournament, and how far I should pick them.

It's the times.

Death, taxes and Kansas winning the Big 12.

I think it will be a BIGGER story when the streak ends. Continuing it is simply maintaining the status quo, and surpassing UCLA, while significant, is just another benchmark.

It's kind of like the stat that Self has more conference championships than home losses (which was clearly in jeopardy this year). To many it's kind of a "neat little trivial pursuit factoid" which, until you really look at it and realize how amazing it is, just doesn't have the "shiny object" appeal of national championships.

Sadly, I don't think these kinds of things are fully appreciated when you're in the middle of them. 20 years after Self is gone and Mitch Lightfoot is promoted to head coach because Coach Manning is ready to hang it up, and KU is only winning conference titles every 5 out of 8 years, those guys (and whoever else is still around from that era) will look back at how amazing that time in KU history really was.

I truly believe that (if college basketball survives) that a few decades after the streak ends, KU's "history pitch" will be:
Kansas basketball:
-First coached by the inventor of the game, James Naismith.
-Next coached by Phog Allen, the inventor of modern basketball coaching.
-Coaching tree includes Dean Smith, John Wooden, Adolf Rupp, Larry Brown and Bill Self
-College of the greatest player in history, Wilt Chamberlain.
-## consecutive conference championships, most in NCAA history, from 2003-###
-## (note..double digits) national championships

Anyway, my point is that once we're past the streak, it will be on par with any of the other notable major historical points made about our program.

I think that's some spot-on analysis, NotO.

I hadn't been able to see the halftime of the Texas v. KU game but I just got a chance to watch the recording. Seth Greenberg had taken the bet at the beginning of the conference season: The Field versus KU. At the halftime, he made his concession speech in the style of a political candidate conceding. Near the end of his "speech" you could hear the slow Rock Chalk chant. Hilarious.