The trail’s been smooth so far, almost too smooth.

There have been Eagles incapable of swooping down on prey. Yellow Jackets that didn’t have enough sting. Trojans not yet ready for war.

All of them were rendered helpless by Kansas, which at 17-0, is more than halfway on a quest for regular season perfection. A rougher journey looms with four tough conference games on the road, but if the Jayhawks can navigate their way through all the obstacles unscathed, treasure awaits. Kansas, with its balanced scoring attack and airtight defense, has a realistic chance to finish the regular season with a perfect record.

Few teams have ever been able to accomplish the feat of perfection. The last to do it was Saint Joseph’s, and the Hawks followed their 27-0 regular season with a first-round blowout loss in the Atlantic 10 conference tournament. Their season ended with a loss in the Elite Eight. Before Saint Joe’s, in 1991, the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels, led by Anderson Hunt, Stacey Augmon and Larry Johnson, rolled through the regular season and all the way to the national semifinal before losing to Duke. Other teams have come close since then. Illinois made a strong run in 2005. Stanford did a year earlier.

But only two teams in 17 years have reached perfection. That’s why the undefeated talk means nothing to Kansas coach Bill Self.

“We still have seven road games left and 14 total,” he said. “We’re not into that. Hey, let’s just get better. If we’re fortunate to play great for the next six weeks, we’ll talk about it, but we’re not even going to go there.”

Still, even if Self won’t admit it, an opponent will have to give Kansas its best shot if it wants any chance to win. The Jayhawks are too deep and balanced for most teams to compete. Four players average double-figure scoring: Brandon Rush, Darrell Arthur, Darnell Jackson and Mario Chalmers. And Sherron Collins is right behind them at 9.5 points per game.

All those scoring options make it darn near impossible to stop Kansas offensively. If the guards aren’t scoring, as was the case against Boston College two weeks ago, Jackson and Arthur have big games. And if the Jayhawks face a daunting front line, like they did against Oklahoma and Nebraska, Rush or Chalmers will step up. If not them, it could be senior guard Russell Robinson or senior center Sasha Kaun who does it. All seven of those players have led Kansas in scoring in at least one game this season. Rush said the availability of scoring options keeps Kansas more focused than it has been the past two seasons.

“We’re well-balanced,” he said. “No one has the pressure of being the leading scorer or the go-to-guy.”

Then there’s the defense. Self has called Robinson one of the best on the ball defenders he’s coached and said Chalmers’ ability to anticipate was better than anyone’s. Those two make KU’s perimeter defense almost impenetrable. Together, they average almost six steals a game and have shut down top guards such as USC’s O.J. Mayo and DePaul’s Draelon Burns.

The combination of a balanced offense and pressure defense has turned most of the Jayhawks’ games into no-contests. Kansas is bludgeoning opponents by an average of 25.4 points per game. Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel saw the Jayhawks’ dominance firsthand on Monday night when his team lost 85-55. The Sooners played No. 2 Memphis earlier this season, and Capel was much more impressed with Kansas.

“They are the best team that we have played, and we have played some really good teams,” Capel said. “I don’t think it’s close that they are the best team in the country.”

Great teams still lose, though. Four major road tests await the Jayahwks in the next two months, at Missouri, Kansas State, Texas and Texas A&M. The first one comes on Saturday against the rival Tigers. In 1997, Missouri handed a 22-0 Kansas team its first loss of the season. That team had the best start in school history.

If the Jayhawks make it through the four tough road games, they still have to face an improved Baylor and always-tough-at-home Iowa State. With those kind of tests, this isn’t the same conference that put only four teams in the NCAA Tournament last season.

“The Big 12 is a lot tougher this year,” Rush said. “There’s more experienced teams. Texas is looking good and they lost to Missouri. Anything can happen. Anything can happen.”

But as tough as the conference is, Kansas will likely be the favorite in every game it plays. The Jayhawks have already blown out Oklahoma and Nebraska, which have defeated top 25-caliber teams such as Arizona State, Xavier, Gonzaga and West Virginia. If the Jayhawks play as well as they have in the last month and continue to improve their free throw shooting and defensive rebounding, the team’s biggest weaknesses, 31-0 could happen.

Sure, it will be tough, and only two teams have done it in nearly 20 years, but Jackson sees no reason why Kansas’ streak can’t continue.

“There’s no pressure at all,” he said. “We have to go out there with a free mind. That’s how we’ve been looking at it, just going out there with a free mind and not worrying about what our record is and just worrying about the next game.”

— Edited by Jared Duncan