Kansas’ blowout loss at dwelling to TCU capped a foul week, however Jayhawks nonetheless have items to return to elite stage

Kansas misplaced 80-62 to Kentucky final January inside Allen Fieldhouse. From there, Invoice Self went 17-3 the remainder of the way in which and gained the 2022 NCAA Match. In different phrases, anyone writing an obituary for the No. 2 Jayhawks’ hopes of repeating as nationwide champions after Saturday’s 83-60 loss at dwelling to No. 14 TCU does not perceive the historical past of their coach or program typically.

That mentioned, it was unhealthy.

The Jayhawks have been down 31-13 not even 10 minutes after tipoff and by no means bought the deficit to single digits within the second half. It was a subpar efficiency from begin to end, one which got here simply 4 days after an 83-82 additional time loss at No. 13 Kansas State, which makes this KU’s first two-game dropping streak within the Massive 12 with a minimum of one of many losses coming at dwelling since February 2013.

Subsequent up: Monday’s journey to No. 21 Baylor.

So issues may worsen earlier than they get higher.

“We could not rating, we did not guard very nicely, and the great seems to be we had we missed,” Self mentioned.

Yeah, that just about covers it.

The reality is that Kansas had been flirting with one thing like this all season — even throughout a 10-game profitable streak that spanned seven weeks. The Jayhawks have been down 15 factors to Oklahoma State earlier than rallying for a 69-67 win. They have been down 12 factors at Texas Tech earlier than rallying for a 75-72 win. They have been down seven factors with lower than seven minutes to play towards Oklahoma earlier than rallying for a 79-75 win. They trailed Iowa State with lower than three minutes to play earlier than rallying for a 62-60 win.

Dwelling like that ultimately catches as much as you. It caught as much as KU this week.

So now Kansas is trying up within the Massive 12 standings at Kansas State, which is alone in first place within the league after being picked final within the Massive 12 preseason ballot. The Wildcats are led by a first-time head coach (Jerome Tang) and a 22-year-old switch from Florida who missed nearly the entire previous two seasons after collapsing throughout a sport in December 2020 (Keyontae Johnson).

That is the most effective story in school basketball.

Nevertheless it’s essential to recollect, even after a beatdown just like the 23-point beatdown TCU simply delivered, that the Jayhawks are nonetheless 16-3, not 3-16. They’re nonetheless No. 9 at KenPom.com and in possession of seven Quadrant 1 wins. Solely Purdue additionally has seven. No person has extra. So it will be silly to let recency bias distort actuality as a result of the fact is that, in line with actually each metric accessible, Kansas stays one of many sport’s greatest groups and an actual menace to win what could be Self’s third nationwide championship.

Will KU truly do it?

Who is aware of?

However any staff with a championship-level level guard (Dajuan Harris), a probable First Crew All-American (Jalen Wilson), a doable NBA Draft lottery choose (Gradey Dick) and the most effective coach in school basketball (Self) definitely has an opportunity — and that is what Kansas nonetheless has in its program. It is simple to neglect in per week like this week — however that is what Kansas nonetheless has in its program. So, broadly talking, I nonetheless imagine on this staff.

That mentioned, Saturday was unhealthy.

It was so unhealthy that until the 2022 nationwide champions carry out dramatically higher after they meet the 2021 nationwide champions late Monday contained in the Ferrell Middle, this two-game dropping streak will nearly definitely grow to be simply the second three-game dropping streak Kansas has endured in a 10-season span.