KU Wins Seventh Straight Big 12 Title

In the year that KState was supposed to win the Big 12 and many "experts" picked KU to finish as low as fourth, at least a share of the Big 12 title is heading to Lawrence once again. The Jayhawks now have back to back to back to back to back to back to back league titles, a ridiculous streak that no one else in the nation seems to notice.

To win another piece of hardware for its crowded trophy case, KU had to go through a tough, tournament bound Texas A&M team coached by former KU player Mark Turgeon. It wasn't always pretty, but the Jayhawks finally wore down the Aggies 64-51. It was senior night in Lawrence, as KU said goodbye to Tyrel Reed, Brady Morningstar and Mario Little and possibly the Morris twins as well. KU has now won 28 straight senior nights.

Another interesting fact: KU's Bill Self only has seven home losses in his tenure as KU head coach. For at least until next season, Self has seven consecutive league titles and only seven home losses: something no other coach in recent basketball history has come close to duplicating. How has this not gotten more national attention? If Duke or UNC had done anything close to this, we would see a montage hailing Coach K before every Big Monday game for the next two years. Just look at last night - KU wins a seventh straight title and the front page of ESPN.com features an article about the UNC - Florida State game (yawn).

Think if any team in college football won its league more than 3-4 years in a row. It'd be all over the news. KU does it seven straight times with a national title during its streak and hardly anyone raises an eyebrow. One problem is the nature of basketball - the regular season doesn't mean a whole lot when everything is settled with a crazy single-elimination tournament. Bill Self has now captured three league titles when his team wasn't the preseason favorite, and officially owns the Big 12 (usually one of the toughest college basketball conferences). Its time for ESPN and other media outlets to stop its love affair with the east coast teams and give KU the respect it has earned.