Jorgensen: History permeates Kansas Basketball
The vein of history runs deep at Kansas.
The feeling after Kansas’s 50th championship wasn’t success or the notion that it was monumental. It was simply a feeling of satisfaction, knowing that for another year the conference brought out the big guns against the Jayhawks nearly every game, yet Kansas still managed to maintain the Big 12 crown.
Monday, March 5th, 2007
During the same game, the Kansas Jayhawks earned sole possession of their 50th conference title and their 1,900th program victory. Only two other schools have surpassed 1,900 wins — Kentucky and North Carolina — but Kansas is the only school to claim 50 career conference titles.
The Jayhawks are the epitome of dominance. They are one of the few programs that all other programs are measured against. If Kansas State beats Kansas, its season is considered a successful one. If Texas A&M would have taken sole possession of the conference title, it would have been monumental.
The feeling after Kansas’s 50th championship wasn’t success or the notion that it was monumental. It was simply a feeling of satisfaction, knowing that for another year the conference brought out the big guns against the Jayhawks nearly every game, yet Kansas still managed to maintain the Big 12 crown.
On March 3, Kansas secured another season of satisfaction and furthered the lore of Kansas basketball by reaching those huge milestones. Those of us who were lucky enough to see it in person witnessed something truly special. Not only did we see the 50th conference championship and the 1,900th program victory, but we saw the historic cumulation of one of the most historic sports programs in the world.
Wrapped up in all those victories and championships is basketball history, not just Kansas basketball history. The game’s creator, James Naismith, was the school’s first coach. The father of coaching, Forrest “Phog” Allen, spawned a new generation of coaches. Adolf Rupp and Dean Smith, both former Jayhawks, took Allen’s knowledge and led other programs to dominance.
It’s ironic that the two schools those two led to success were Kentucky and North Carolina. I guess Kansas should say, “You’re welcome,” to those schools. It took Allen’s pupils to take those programs to the next level.
If you follow the coaching tree even farther and take a look at all the coaches that learned the Phog Allen method of coaching just through Smith, it’s amazing.
If you follow the coaching tree even farther and take a look at all the coaches that learned the Phog Allen method of coaching just through Smith, it’s amazing. Roy Williams, Larry Brown and George Karl, to name a few, all learned under Smith.
Wilt Chamberlain, the player responsible for more changes in basketball than any other, became a star while in a Jayhawk uniform. Brown coached a Danny Manning-led team in 1988 to one of the most famous championship runs in all of sports. Brown later became the only coach in history to win an NCAA championship and an NBA championship, with the Detroit Pistons.
It all comes to a head with this year’s Jayhawk team. This is possibly the most talented Kansas team ever. Think of this: Jayhawk fans have been stressed, frustrated and furious at the team this year, all because we expect so much more. We expect so much more from a 27-4, No. 3-ranked team in the nation. That’s the kind of expectations created by decades of winning.
One thing Kansas basketball history lacks is a lot of national championships. Kansas has four, although it only truly has two. The back-to-back championships in the 1920s were awarded years later as there were no championships in that era.
In what has been a historic year, the exclamation point would be the first national championship in 19 years, and the first as a favorite since 1952.
Regardless if this team wins a championship, it’s still Kansas — the definition of consistency and dominance — and this season has been a testament of this great program.
Jorgensen is a Baldwin City senior in journalism.
— Edited by Ashley Thompson
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