Bill Self, in his first 20 years at Kansas, won 16 Big 12 regular-season championships and never finished lower than third in the league. Fourteen of those conference titles were collected in consecutive years, which is something I assume will never again be duplicated at the power-conference level. Combine that theory with two national championships, and not only is Self a deserving member of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, he also belongs very high on any list of all-time great college basketball coaches.
But things have slipped.
That’s not an opinion. It’s a fact. And the best way to illustrate it is to, again, highlight that, in Self’s first 20 years at KU, he won 16 Big 12 regular-season championships and never finished lower than third in the league. But the past three seasons have unfolded differently, specifically this way:
- Year 21 at KU for Self: 10-8 in the Big 12, tied for fifth in the league standings.
- Year 22 at KU for Self: 11-9 in the Big 12, alone in sixth in the league standings.
- Year 23 at KU for Self: 1-2 in the Big 12, alone in ninth in the league standings.
Like I noted on Sunday’s episode of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast, the Jayhawks are now projected to finish 9-9 in the Big 12, according to KenPom.com. If they do, they will have gone 30-26 in league games over a three-year span with three consecutive finishes outside of the top four in the conference standings. That is something that literally never happened in Self’s first two decades guiding this blue-blood program — but it could happen for a third straight year this season unless Kansas outperforms current expectations.
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Which is why Tuesday night’s game with Iowa State, inside Allen Fieldhouse, is a massive contest for Self and his program. There was a time, not too long ago, when you’d never pick against the Jayhawks at home, regardless of their opponent or their opponent’s ranking or record. But, on this Tuesday, Kansas is actually a 3.5-point underdog to an Iowa State team that’s 16-0 and second in Tuesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Arizona remains No. 1.
Is KU still KU?
Tuesday is a statement game, in that regard, one way or another. If the Jayhawks upset the Cyclones, it’ll serve as a reminder that they’re still an elite program guided by a Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame coach and led by the likely No. 1 overall pick (Darryn Peterson) in the 2026 NBA Draft. That would be ideal for Kansas. But if the Jayhawks lose and fall to 1-3 in the Big 12, whatever troubling questions are already hovering around the program will likely get more intense, and also more reasonable to ask.