Random Thoughts

Outright Big 12 champions!! Order has been restored to the universe. That makes an incredible and universe leading 62 conference championships. That is simply amazing. And we won our 16th game in a row. That ties for KU's 14th longest winning streak of all-time. The longest winning streak in KU history is 22 games which we have done 3 times. The most recent was that incredible run in 1997. We also had 22 game win streaks in 1936 and 1908-09. Of course, Baylor set the Big 12 record with 23 in a row earlier this season. We need to reclaim that as well.

Speaking of Baylor, they lost to West Virginia. Gotta feel just a little for them. They thought they were riding high with a 1 game lead and 5 games to play and a home game against Kansas and a 23 game win streak. Kansas proceeds to go 5-0 including defeating Baylor in Waco while Baylor goes 2-3. This is fun, isn't it?

Now Kansas has set a record for most conference wins at 17. We were 16-0 in 2002 for the best win% but with the new 18 game schedule, this is the first time a team has won 17 games. We have now won 4 games in a row as the No. 1 team in the country. That runs our record as No. 1 to 109-22 or 83.2%. We are almost certainly the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA tourney and the favorite to win it all.

Devon Dotson scored 17 to take his career total to 986. He will very likely become the 62nd 1000 point scorer in KU history in the next game. Azubuike had 4 offensive rebounds to move him up 4 spots in the single year rebound record to 19th place. He moved up 5 spots in total rebounds in a year to 324 to put him in 17th overall.

I was a little worried about this game being the 18th and last game in the conference schedule and we had already secured the conference championship. Since the Big 12 went to the round robin schedule and expanded to 18 games, KU is 4-4 in the final game. When you consider we were 129-32 overall since 2012, 4-4 in the final game is not good. But the guys gritted out another nail-biter in a tough game. This team plays like a championship team. They have that "edge" that we lacked last season. I have to insert this chart of the probability by game. It is a thing of beauty. Well probably not so much if you are a Baylor fan.



Hey Baylor, 2nd place is not that bad.

Through this game the Jayhawks have a defensive Points per Possession of 0.885 on the season. That has crept up a little in the last 4 or 5 games but is still excellent. That is 3rd best under Self but just barely higher than the 0.872 PPP in 2006. It is almost 1/10th of a point better than last season. At 70 possessions per game that is good for 7 points per game. That will win a lot of games, having 7 more points to work with. Of course, the flip side is our offensive PPP is 1.083. That is tied for the 4th lowest under Self. But the margin PPP is 0.198 which is the 5th best under Self. We are holding opponents to a 3-point shooting percentage of 30.5%. That is the 3rd best under Self. But one area where we have been getting better and better is rebounding. This team is now the best rebounding team Self has had at Kansas. We are grabbing 56.3% of the rebounds which is outstanding. We are grabbing 34.2% of offensive rebounds (compared to an NCAA average of 28%) and 74.8% of defensive rebounds (compared to an NCAA average of 72%).

Another great accomplishment, KU is undefeated in Big 12 play on the road. This is the second time KU has accomplished that in the 24 years of the Big 12. No other team has done that.

So how did we win this game? Start with rebounding, especially offensive rebounding. Udoka's key OR and putback down the stretch was huge. We grabbed 14 of 41 offensive boards and 5 players had at least 2 OR's. great team rebounding. Overall we outrebounded Texas Tech, 46-36 for 56% of rebounds. Secondly, we (Garrett) essentially shut down their primary scoring option, Ramsey. Ramsey scored 6 on 7 shots. When you shut down the primary option, it forces the team to adapt and Texas Tech did not do so very well. Thirdly it was the same tune as has been all season, defense. This team is a great defensive team. My DPPI has them as the 2nd best in the country but we may be the best.

Aesthetically, the KU graph is is a huge SMILE, while the Baylor graph is a huge FROWN!!!

Somehow I knew Drew and co. would not be able to sustain their run.

RockChalk!

I think you can contribute this teams rebounding improvement directly to Dok. My 1 complaint in his sophomore year was I thought he should get more rebounds. He now is going and getting those rebounds.

photos.app.goo.gl/3A4VL93pGmKyXvc86

If you're feeling bad for Scot Drew and Baylor, I'd suggest we take up a collection and order some of these ribbons that my nephew hands out to kids who don't pass the basic ice skating course at the rink where he worked.