Go ahead and
Then realize that not one of them have hit the midway point, yet, but are closing in at that landmark.
It should be too early to tell you that Kansas is nearly mathematically solidified to win its 14th consecutive regular-season Big 12 championship.
That’s a record, folks. That’s more domination than Gonzaga has put on the West Coast Conference; more than John Wooden’s UCLA programs of the 1960s and 1970s put on the old Pac-8 Conference.
It should be too early, but the usual lengthy list of Big 12 contenders have already begun to fade — blame the overall strength of the league — leaving the Jayhawks needing only to avoid a complete meltdown to claim its prize again.
WVU hoped to make a statement that is was ready to challenge Kansas, but instead made an entirely different one in falling to TCU, 82-73, on Big Monday. WVU shot 33 percent
(25 of 75) from the field.
The Mountaineers (16-4, 5-3 Big 12) are the Big 12’s top hope in ending the streak, but you already know what happened when the Jayhawks visited Morgantown — a 71-66 loss — meaning WVU will have to go into Lawrence Fieldhouse, on Feb. 17, and pull out a win that it has not been able to secure since becoming a member of the Big 12, in 2012.
So, nothing overly daunting.
Oh, and then the Mountaineers basically have to continue to win out, meaning going to Oklahoma and winning, as well as winning on the road against Iowa State, Texas and Baylor.
By no means is all of this meant to sound the trumpets and roll out the carpet for king Kansas (16-3, 6-1).
Just the opposite, actually, because the other Big 12 members should be ashamed of themselves.
The Jayhawks’ run is impressive, no doubt, but it is just as much a story about the rest of the league choking or laying down or the old, we’ll-get-’em-next-year way of thinking as it is about Kansas being the better team each season.
Kansas has not spent 14 seasons blowing everyone out. The Jayhawks have not spent the past 14 seasons as some super dominant team with five NBA first-round picks on its roster and a 7-foot center who blocks everything at the rim.
Kansas has had flaws. The Jayhawks have flaws this season, with No. 1 being they are not deep at all. They do not always have the Big 12’s best guards or best power forwards.
The difference between Kansas and the rest of the league is the Jayhawks get past their flaws and win, while everyone else works just to get a little closer in competitiveness to Kansas each season.
After 14 seasons, it’s high time for another Big 12 program to step up and become an equal to the Jayhawks and not just working to close the gap.
And while the Big 12 is strong from top to bottom, that is still no excuse for Kansas losing just three times — around the average number of Big 12 losses the Jayhawks have each season — while everyone else struggles to keep from losing five or six times.
Either someone else win the damn Big 12, or please stop referring to how tough everyone else is in the league.
Because if no one else in the league can play with Kansas, that’s just not being very tough at all.
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