Very quickly now and without looking, can you name the Kansas University basketball team’s record in its last 27 games?
Try 26-1.
That sort of accomplishment isn’t possible without playing the game the right way, which is to say unselfishly and with a steady stream of hustling players diving for loose balls and helping fellow defenders in need.
A team with a defense-first identity is more likely to put together such a streak because that part of the game is more slump-proof than is shooting.
And it was Kansas’ defensive ability, as much as anything, that made it easy to forecast the Jayhawks would end Miami of Ohio’s streak of 44 consecutive games of holding an opponent to less than 70 points.
Kansas used its superior size, quickness and shooting ability to defeat the RedHawks, 78-54, inside Allen Fieldhouse while a mixture of driving snow, a loud wind, thunder and lightning raged outside Saturday afternoon.
Miami’s streak lived so long because the team normally is adept at controlling the tempo of the game and exhibiting patience offensively. Kansas didn’t allow that as an option. Facing such relentless pressure on the perimeter and such tall roadblocks down low, Miami’s players took their opportunities where they could get them, figuring they might not get another. If that meant early in the shot clock, then that’s what the RedHawks settled for, and they hit just 25 percent of their first-half shots.
Quicker shots for Miami meant more possessions for Kansas. At the other end, Miami didn’t pressure, and KU turned it over just six times. There went the streak.
Naturally, Kansas coach Bill Self remains unsatisfied with his team’s defense. Any good coach knows the moment a player or a team stops getting better it begins getting worse, so he wants more out of his players defensively.
“We still don’t guard as well as we could,” Self said. “I talked to a (coach) the other day who said, ‘You’re good defensively, but you could be a lot better.’ That’s how I feel.”
The defense will get better when the competition does. Luckily, the Big 12 season isn’t far away. Beating up on nonconference weaklings (except Arizona at home and USC and Georgia Tech on the road) has killed suspense.
Self hasn’t seen it that way.
“We’ve had a tougher schedule than what people think,” Self said. “: It’s been a good schedule, not a glitzy schedule, not glitzy wins.”
The standard for what coaches consider a good schedule has been greatly watered down through the years. The nonconference schedules of most superpowers are filled with buy games. That enables athletic departments to use the dough raised by so many home games to fund non-revenue sports.
Top-ranked North Carolina, for example, hasn’t had a single opponent yet as strong as KU’s toughest, which was Arizona.
Oh well, supporters of the undefeated superpowers aren’t complaining about what their teams have done against the unchallenging schedules. Neither are the players.
“I got everything I wanted for Christmas, 12-0 is good for me,” Kansas senior guard Russell Robinson said. “Great Christmas gift.”
