And the Winner Isn't....

     The dust has settled since Tuesday night. Those who celebrated have relaxed, those who were bummed out have licked their wounds, but one message has been clear.

     Ding-Ding the witch is dead. The Wicked Witch of the Big 12, who rendered the rest of the league title-less for a decade and a half, will have to put away her broom for at least one year, and someone else will don some championship ruby red slippers.

     For the first time in fifteen years, the Kansas Jayhawks are not at least a part shareholder of the Big 12 title. It came in a way that perhaps was a boon for both groups, the haters and the lovers. Kansas got smoked by Oklahoma to seal their fate, putting up precious little resistance in an 81-68 loss that wasn’t nearly that close.

     It provided the kind of exclamation point that winning a couple of games while Texas Tech and Kansas State took care of their business to keep Kansas in third wouldn’t have done. There was some blowback from former Jayhawks like Jamari Traylor of the “so that’s how we’re going to go down” variety, to be sure. But it did highlight the frailties of the 2018-19 team that were there for a variety of reason. No Jayhawk fan with any kind of clear eyes could think it was some kind of fluke. The other contenders were just better.

     That doesn’t mean it wasn’t surprising to see such a capitulation in Norman. There was no back to the wall response, no “us against the world” scrap to the finish. Merely a meek surrender. One that was almost completely unseen during the epic decade and a half run.

     Sooners coach Lon Kruger said something after the game that he noted was a clear compliment to Kansas, in stating that the other nine schools all kind of pull for each other, and were always hoping that anyone but Kansas would win the title. A handful did, but only in concert with the Jayhawks. The way it was shaking out down the stretch, a shared title with KU would have been a bit of a bummer , even for a trophy holder. And even if Kansas State and Texas Tech share, I am certain they will feel OK about it, knowing that the Jayhawks had been taken down.

     The streak had become another thing for Kansas to be admired for, and for others to be jealous of. It also became a talking point that gave Jayhawks supporters a chance to get angry about, the narrative that it diminished the league. Well, sorry, but it WAS accurate that it made the league look worse, and it is very easy to say that there was no way it would have been accomplished in leagues like the ACC and Big 10. No chance. That is a fact, a fact that should not have been taken as an insult, but was.

     The other reality is that the other teams in the league not only didn’t step up to beat Kansas in the league, they also didn’t go out and prove that being second or third in the conference was a thing by killing it in the NCAA tournament. Besides Kansas only the 2016 Oklahoma team has made a Final Four during the run, and in that same time span the list of participants is peppered with power conference teams who did not win their own conference that season before making the Final Four.

     All that being said, maybe even more and more over time, most arguments will be set aside, and the true appreciation of an incredible achievement will be even more crystallized. Bill Self said Wednesday that never is a very long time, but a streak like this will never happen again. And him saying it means even more because in stating that, he is including his own program as well as in the group that can’t do it.

     The 14th title last year broke the record, and extending it to there was quite a thing because you passed UCLA to do it. I only half-kiddingly have maintained that stopping in a tie with the Bruins would have been better, since you always would be mentioned in the same breath with that school’s iconic era.  But breaking it really was something, the difficulty of it shown in it ending the very next year.

     There will always be spin when something negative happens, and that has already begun, and some of the points are valid. There likely will be more of an urgency for Kansas to try and bag the Big 12 Tournament crown, something that was more like a couple more sprinkles on an ice cream sundae in the past. And even during the streak, most fans would have preferred a Final Four appearance in any given year to an extension of the run, and that still is out there.

     It certainly does not seem likely, stranger things have happened, but considering what eventually Bill Self had to work with, this being the year is no surprise. It would be hard to make an argument that this isn’t his least talented team. If Kansas were the 4th ranked team in the country, but got edged out in the league, that likely would sting more.

    Self also pointed out yesterday that much of the feedback he has received focused on next year. He rightly pointed out that this year isn’t over. But it seems more likely than not that the entirety of this season will end up being a disappointment by the lofty Jayhawk standards.

     However, the team that has to wear the burden of being the ones that couldn’t extend the relentless drumbeat of titles, still has the chance to write a different song.