Biorhythms?

Saturday KANSAS suffered it's worst home loss to an unranked team in over 50 years.
TheSportingNews: Bill Self calls Kansas ‘awful,’ ‘soft’ in worst home loss to unranked team in five decades

Before conference play began, KU had lost just 3 games, and other than the reversal of fortune from H1 to H2 against UNC, they were not head scratchers -
• UNC @Chapel Hill (first loss v UNC in the Self era; he is 5-1 v UNC, 3-0 v Roy and 2-1 v Hubert Davis)
• Duke @MSG (DNP)
• UConn in AFH - the one we did not like at all, but again, not a head scratcher, especially as DNP.

Looking back over the Big 12 season, EVERY Big 12 loss to date has come in a day game (tip before 5 PM CT).

BIG 12 Ls @2026-02-22To me that looks a lot like a significant number of the guys may not "day people".

Their biorhythms could possibly be a factor if enough guys were in cycle low points in some way.

Looking ahead, KU has 2 night games and 2 day games left.Should we be even more worried that UA Game 2 is in Tucson starting at 3:00 PM CT?
Or that the season finale v KState, the KANSAS Senior Game, begins at 1:00 PM CT?

According to web.md, our biological rhythms influence important functions such as:
Sleep
Metabolism
Heart rate
Blood pressure
Body temperature
Hormone levels
Urine production (wondering if this has anything to do with our p*ss poor play in our 4 B12 losses?)

With 4 Ls in 4 day games - 1 AFH, 3 Away - does it make sense there could be biorhythm impact?

Well, how has KU done overall this season in games that start before 5:00 PM CT?

The Night Game record is 13-3, those 3 again being UNC @Chapel Hill, Duke @MSG & UConn in AFH.

The Day Game record -
7-4
5-0 non-conference
2-4 Big 12

Yep, they actually did just well enough against non-Big 12 competition to begin Big 12 play 5-0 in day games.
But some of those day game wins were pretty shaky at one point or another before KU prevailed.
The only game they really dominated was against Missouri in KC.
DAY GAME WINS
Princeton gave KU little problem, but we would hope so given they are not good this year, 8-18 as of today.

Notre Dame in LV led for much of the first 9 minutes before KU finally woke up to lead by 7 at the half and eventually outscore ND by just 3 in H2 to win by 10 against a team that today is 12-15.

Syracuse jumped out to an early lead in LV but KU quickly covered it and led for the last 37+ minutes of the game. Syracuse pulled to within 2 with 6:01 to play, but KU closed out with a 19-10 run to win 71-60 against a team that today is 15-13.

In the T-Mobile Center, KU rose to the challenge despite the 12:00 noon start and DP led the Jayhawks to an 8 point H1 lead over Missouri. With DP playing just over 6 minutes (scoring 5 points) in H2, Tiller scored 12 of his 13, JMc all of his 7 and Tre added 9 more for a game high 20 to help KU outscore Missouri (18-9|8-6 SEC) 47-35 in H2 and win the game by 20.

At NC State the game went neck and neck the whole game despite Melvin's 8 treys before going to OT. And in the OT it was still neck and neck, Melvin scoring 5 points (including his 9th trey), Tre scored 4, and Flory scored his only 2 points of the OT to give KU a 1 point lead with :51 to go. The D held, the buzzer beater 3 pointer by NCSt was off, Melvin finished with a season high 36 points and KU got it's road game win against a Tobacco Road squad that today is a very nice 19-8 (10-4 ACC) with 4 games left in their season.

In Big 12 road play UCF, WVU and ISU all took care of business at home in day games

In AFH BYU got hit by a great KU H1, then staged a comeback on the shooting of Richie Saunders that almost brought them back against a KU squad playing without either DP or Elmarko in H2.

And against Utah in AFH (KU's last day game win to date), Utah lead for most of the first 6 minutes of the game, then the lead went back and forth until KU finally took the lead for good with 9:30 to go in H1, finishing the half up 7, 38-31. Utah came out firing and quickly cut the KU lead to 2 on several occasions early in H2, but with 16:01 to go KU started pulling away, leading by as much as 16 before finally closing out winning by 12, 71-59.

So yeah, the guys have really not done well in day games, especially in conference play.

Again, Big 12 competition they are 2-4 in day games.

So... it's not strong evidence.
Not sure it could be statistically significant.

But it does seem it might have some legs, this idea that our guys aren't biologically in sync for day games.

Not sure there is anything they can do about that.

Just thought it interesting, and maybe helpful if they could.

On, and playing the same aggressive offense and defense they play without DP when DP *is* on the court would certainly be really helpful as well.

To paraphrase the great Pavel Chekov in Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home: "Scotty! Jayhawks! Now would be a good time!"

It's certainly plausible. Of note, just as a KU fan, I've found myself going into early-tip games all season a bit more anxious than for other games, and particularly night games. So just on a subconscious, intuitive level, I've been feeling some negatives about such games.

On Saturday, as you know from my in-game texts ... I already had a very "bad juju" feeling about our squad, their effort, and what might be about to go down not even halfway into the first half. Hell, I had a bad feeling before even the first TV timeout. Just that spidey-sense feeling that this was going to be "one of those games." As I texted to you midway through the first half:

Game has had that "early Saturday tip at Allen" kind of feel. Hopefully we're in the midst of a little run to get some separation.

Sadly, no such run came. And shortly after that:

Crap.

Not good.

Getting a bad feeling...

Flory is the only guy showing energy today.

Bad juju.

By halfway through the 2nd half, anxiety had turned to full-on despair:

This has "massive upset" written all over it. We better get our s*** together asap.

Sadly, the rallying moment never came. We went out with a whimper, not a bang. At home, in a pivotal league championship-relevant game, against a middling team. A team capable of upsets, yes, but in Allen? With us seemingly dialed in on competing for the league crown?

Alas, it happened.

I will say this: my general higher nervousness about early-tip day games (speaking here of just those in Allen) goes back, I would surmise, to the 2003 Lute Olson-led Zona blowout of a solid Roy Williams team in which we actually were hitting on all cylinders in the first half (at one point going up 20 points, but then got our arses handed to us in an ultimate 17-point loss - with the Wildcats trouncing us 52-22 in the second half). Talk about a debacle and collapse.

I can't be sure since it's a subconscious thing, but I believe I can trace my AFH early-Saturday game nervousness to that moment, and it has sustained forward ever since. Sometimes (most times?) it's all for naught, but too many times (given our elite W-L record under Bill) it has proven foretelling.

Thankfully, the game in view (Houston) is a night affair. And a Big Monday one, at that. (Self being 40-0 in such tussles) Here's to righting the ship, whether it's a hat tip to biorhythms or anything else.

UPDATING THE OP 2026-03-01

Before conference play began, KU had lost just 3 games, and other than the reversal of fortune from H1 to H2 against UNC, they were not head scratchers -
• UNC @Chapel Hill (a true road game, first loss v UNC in the Self era; he is 5-1 v UNC, 3-0 v Roy and 2-1 v Hubert Davis)
• Duke @MSG (DNP)
• UConn in AFH - the one we did not like at all, but again, not a head scratcher, especially as DNP.

Looking back over the Big 12 season, EVERY Big 12 loss to date has come in a day game (tip before 5 PM CT).

BIG 12 Ls @2026-03-01Reinforces my assessment that a significant number of the guys may not "day people".

Their biorhythms could possibly be a factor if enough guys were in cycle low points in some way.

Looking ahead, KU has 1 night game and 1 day game left.Should we be worried that the season finale v KState, the KANSAS Senior Game, begins at 1:00 PM CT?

Well, how has KU done overall this season in games that start before 5:00 PM CT?

The Night Game record is
14-3 total
9-0 B12 (5-0 AFH, 4-0 Road)
5-3 non-conference (4-1 AFH, 0-1 Road, 1-1 Neutral), those 3 Ls @Chapel Hill, Duke @MSG & UConn in AFH.

The Day Game record -
7-5 (3-1 AFH. 1-4 Road, 3-0 Neutral)
5-0 non-conference (1-0 AFH, 1-0 Road, 3-0 Neutral)
2-5 Big 12 (2-1 AFH, 0-4 Road) ISU, UA ok, but UCF and WVU? Hmm... but UC in AFH?

Yep, they actually did just well enough against non-Big 12 competition to begin Big 12 play 5-0 in day games.
But some of those day game wins were pretty shaky at one point or another before KU prevailed.
The only day game they really dominated was against Missouri in KC.

DAY GAME WINS
Princeton gave KU little problem, but we would hope so given they are not good this year, 8-18 as of today.

Notre Dame in LV led for much of the first 9 minutes before KU finally woke up to lead by 7 at the half and eventually outscore ND by just 3 in H2 to win by 10 against a team that today is 12-15.

Syracuse jumped out to an early lead in LV but KU quickly covered it and led for the last 37+ minutes of the game. Syracuse pulled to within 2 with 6:01 to play, but KU closed out with a 19-10 run to win 71-60 against a team that today is 15-13.

In the T-Mobile Center, KU rose to the challenge despite the 12:00 noon start and DP led the Jayhawks to an 8 point H1 lead over Missouri. With DP playing just over 6 minutes (scoring 5 points) in H2, Tiller scored 12 of his 13, JMc all of his 7 and Tre added 9 more for a game high 20 to help KU outscore Missouri (18-9|8-6 SEC) 47-35 in H2 and win the game by 20.

At NC State the game went neck and neck the whole game despite Melvin's 8 treys before going to OT. And in the OT it was still neck and neck, Melvin scoring 5 points (including his 9th trey), Tre scored 4, and Flory scored his only 2 points of the OT to give KU a 1 point lead with :51 to go. The D held, the buzzer beater 3 pointer by NCSt was off, Melvin finished with a season high 36 points and KU got it's road game win against a Tobacco Road squad that today is a very nice 19-8 (10-4 ACC) with 4 games left in their season.

In Big 12 road play UCF, WVU, ISU and UA all took care of business at home in day games

In AFH BYU got hit by a great KU H1, then staged a comeback on the shooting of Richie Saunders that almost brought them back against a KU squad playing without either DP or Elmarko in H2.

And against Utah in AFH (KU's last day game win to date), Utah lead for most of the first 6 minutes of the game, then the lead went back and forth until KU finally took the lead for good with 9:30 to go in H1, finishing the half up 7, 38-31. Utah came out firing and quickly cut the KU lead to 2 on several occasions early in H2, but with 16:01 to go KU started pulling away, leading by as much as 16 before finally closing out winning by 12, 71-59.

So yeah, the guys have really not done well in day games, especially in conference play.

Again, Big 12 competition they are 2-5 in day games.

So... it's not strong evidence.
Not sure it could be statistically significant.

But it does seem it might have some legs, this idea that our guys aren't biologically in sync for day games.

Time to step up their game - and hope KU doesn't get any day games in the post-season!

"Jayhawks! Now would be a good time!" - paraphrasing Chekov in Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home.