Dufek: Kansas Athletics remains a juggernaut

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Kansas basketball and football teams combined for an astonishing 49 wins and only four losses last year.

Kansas fans never even had to witness a loss at Memorial Stadium or Allen Fieldhouse as the teams went undefeated at both venues.

However, that was last year and this is, well, this year. It’s easy to say that matching last year’s success would be nearly impossible.

The Jayhawks easily had the best two-sport record in NCAA Division-I athletics last year. Kansas was the only school to go to a BCS-bowl game and also advance to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament. The only other team that even came close was West Virginia, which won the Fiesta Bowl in football and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in basketball.

Despite last year’s success, we live in a society where people care a lot about what someone has done for them lately.

Expectations are always high in basketball. After losing all five starters from last year’s squad, the Jayhawks are going to have some major growing pains, and their non-conference schedule isn’t going to make it any easier.

Nine teams that Kansas will face in the non-conference season participated in post-season play last year. Michigan State, Temple, Arizona, Tennessee and Kent State all played in the NCAA tournament. Tennessee and Kent State both won their respective conferences.

If that’s not daunting enough, Kansas will most likely face Washington — who appeared in the College Basketball Invitational — and either Florida or Syracuse in the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in November. Syracuse advanced to the quarterfinals of the NIT last year and Florida advanced to the semifinals. Both teams were knocked out by another one of the Jayhawks future foes: the University of Massachusetts. the runner-up in the 2008 NIT. Kansas will also face NIT-participant New Mexico State.

This is all before the conference season even begins. Once Kansas enters conference play, it will have to deal with talented squads such as Baylor, Oklahoma and Texas.

Then there is the rest of the Big 12 that will give Kansas some troubles as well. Oklahoma State beat the Jayhawks with its best record in Kansas history last year. There is reason to think that one or two teams in the middle or lower parts of the conference could beat Kansas at least once this season. If Kansas were to go about 23-10 it would seem like a let down after last year, but it would be a season a school such as Colorado would die for in basketball.

As far as football goes, the Jayhawks are sitting at 5-2 with a tough schedule ahead. With the way the Big 12 is shaping up, I think a lot of people would say Kansas will finish with seven wins, maybe eight. This would have been a stellar mark for Kansas football a few years ago, but it may seem as though it could be a let down to some Jayhawk fans this year.

It shouldn’t. Nor should a 23-win basketball season. Just think about Kansas’ neighboring schools and how they have had to deal with losing. Kansas isn’t losing the way some other Big 12 North schools are. They aren’t suffering losing seasons. They aren’t getting blown out in anything.

Nebraska, Iowa State and Colorado are all struggling more so than Kansas. In football Nebraska has suffered some of its worst losses in school history over the past two years and they’re 9-10 in their last 19 games.

Iowa State has also been struggling. The Cyclones went a combined 17-27 in the two sports last season and are off to a 2-5 start in football this year. Colorado reached a bowl game in football last year, but finished the year at 6-7. They are struggling to compete in basketball. They went 12-20 last season and suffered many blowout losses.

Kansas fans are very fortunate for what they have going here in Lawrence. They should really cherish these years because they can vanish fast.

— — Edited by Andy Greenhaw

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