Immediately after his No. 7 Kansas team committed a second-half turnover that led to an easy transition basket on the other end for No. 15 Baylor on Saturday, the TV panned to Hall of Fame coach Bill Self. The legend slunk back in his chair and threw up both his arms before clearly repeating a four-word phrase in succession: “What are we doing? What are we doing?” asked Self in disgust.
The answer: Kansas was losing to No. 15 Baylor in an eventual 82-74 defeat. The turnover and transition bucket moved Baylor’s lead midway through the second half to 11 points, and KU never got within a single possession of striking distance until the end. The loss on Saturday was Kansas’ seventh conference defeat of the season — the most ever under Self and the most ever by any team under his watch.
Here’s a look at the loss by the numbers as the Jayhawks fall to 21-8 on the season and 9-7 in league play.
Kansas’ struggles by the numbers
- 7: That number of Big 12 losses for Kansas is the most it has suffered in a single season since the conference was formed in 1996. It is also the most losses in conference play a Self-coached team has ever suffered in a single season.
- 1988-89: The last time Kansas suffered at least seven losses in conference play was in 1988-89. That was the first season under Roy Williams, and the Jayhawks — in what was then the Big 8 Conference (!!) — finished with a 6-8 conference record.
- 6: Only twice previously has a Self-coached team lost six conference games — a record that was broken Saturday. Both instances came at Kansas (2020-21 and 2018-19) — and both of those seasons ended with KU losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
- 2: The loss to Baylor was KU’s second consecutive Big 12 loss and its first time suffering back-to-back losses since January 2023.
- 3: Kansas could tie for its longest losing streak in Big 12 play under Self when it returns home Tuesday to face Kansas State. The Jayhawks have only suffered four such streaks under Self since he took over in 2003, with three of them coming in the last four seasons.
- 2-6: That’s Kansas’ record in Big 12 road games this season. The six losses in Big 12 road games ties for the most for KU under Self.
- 1: Kansas began the season ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for a fourth time under Self. In two of those seasons, Kansas finished outside the top 10 (No. 12 in the final 2004-2005 poll and No. 17 in 2018-19). In none of those seasons did Kansas make it past the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
- 0: Kansas was never ranked as the preseason No. 1 team in college basketball prior to Self’s arrival. (KU was No. 1 in the first poll of the 1956-57 season, but preseason polls did not begin until five years later.)
- 21: KU has 21 wins on the season with two regular-season games, Big 12 tournament play and NCAA Tournament play remaining. The 21 wins would tie for the second-fewest ever for a team coached by Self (excluding Oral Roberts, which was an independent when he coached.)
