The saying is records are meant to be broken, right? That’s just what the Cyclones did this afternoon coming into Memorial Stadium and ending the Jayhawks 54 game win streak at home in Overtime by the score of 92-89. The streak dates to January 5th of 2014, where San Diego State defeated them 61-57. Iowa State, normally known for their home court advantage, played spoiler forcing third ranked Kansas into an uncharacteristic 21 turnovers. Versatile senior guard Deonte Burton led the charge for the Cyclones with 29 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Let’s take a second to recognize the Jayhawks dominance at home under head coach Bill Self who have compiled an astounding 212-9 (.959) record. Damn, that’s a home court advantage if I’ve ever seen one.
The win for Iowa State is by far their best of the season and a huge resume booster for the Cyclones who improve to 14-8 on the season and 6-4 in the Big 12. The win bolsters their chances of making the tournament but it was only their first win against a top 25 team this season at just 1-4. They have a favorable remaining schedule and this win will serve as a confident booster for Steve Prohm’s team.
This loss may say more about Kansas though and is a huge let down after back to back wins at Kentucky and home to Baylor. They had no business losing this game and it’s a culmination of the mess their players are in off the court. They currently have five players being questioned in the rape of a sixteen-year-old, including their star senior guard Frank Mason III. In addition, they also have players being investigated into a burglary, and oh yeah guard Carlton Bragg was just suspendered indefinitely AGAIN. Bragg was suspended earlier this season when he was arrested and charged with domestic battery, to only be reinstated days later. This time its possession of drug paraphilia and it is still unknown how long he will suspendered for or if he’ll ever be reinstated. Self, has even publicly admitted that all the off-court trouble may be distracting his players. Now I’m not a college basketball coach by any stretch of the imagination, but its definitely not a good sign when the coach and leader of your team believes his players are being hurt by off the court legal trouble. The Jayhawks are loaded with talented led by Frank Mason III, Devonte’ Graham and freshmen phenom Josh Jackson. But don’t let their talent and record fool you, there is nothing short of a circus going on off the court in Kansas right now and if their ring leader, Self, doesn’t start getting his players in line, this could get real ugly.
