Kansas still holds the longest streak of NCAA Tournament appearances ever. That streak, however, is no longer considered to be currently in progress — even as the Jayhawks continue to make the tournament each year.
When the Independent Accountability Resolution Process handed down its long-awaited penalties to KU in October, its most severe punishment was the vacation of 15 wins from the 2017-18 season in which Silvio De Sousa participated. In the process, it also vacated KU’s participation in that tournament altogether, meaning that the tournament streak dating back to 1990 ended, for all intents and purposes, at 28 years following the 2017 season.
That still makes it one season longer than North Carolina’s 1975-2001 streak, but Michigan State (No. 9 seed, West Region) and Gonzaga (No. 5 seed, Midwest Region, a potential KU opponent) are creeping up with ongoing streaks that now measure 26 and 25 seasons, respectively, even as the Zags looked shaky at times this year.
KU is for official purposes now participating in its fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament (the 2020 edition was canceled due to COVID-19).
Also impacted by the IARP ruling was KU’s status as the all-time winningest program. The Jayhawks had previously passed Kentucky for that mark during the 2022 NCAA Tournament, in the Sweet 16 on their way to the national title. Entering 2023-24, they led the Wildcats by eight wins, 2,385 to 2,377; they trailed by seven after the ruling.
Or so it seemed, based on numbers cited on the NCAA’s official website, but Kentucky Sports Radio reported, citing a UK spokesperson, that the Wildcats actually had 2,375 victories, likely as a result of their own vacation of two victories from 1988. Indeed, that was the preseason number reflected in Kentucky’s media guide. So it was a five-win advantage to start out the year.
The Jayhawks looked to be making up ground in late January and early February as Kentucky struggled. However, by the end of both teams’ conference tournaments, they actually ended up six wins behind the Wildcats — though it certainly helped that they beat Kentucky at the Champions Classic in November — and will find it nearly impossible to equal them during this year’s tournament as they would have to win the national title and have the Wildcats lose in the first round. Kentucky is a No. 3 seed in the South Region.
One final milestone KU has not yet been able to reach as a result of the penalty, and one that looked like it might be attainable during the conference tournament: Bill Self has not yet passed Phog Allen as the Jayhawks’ all-time winningest coach. Allen won 590 games in Lawrence and Self entered the year at 580 before the punishment reduced him to 565. As a result — and after the Jayhawks dropped some winnable games in early conference play — he has needed to wait until the postseason to cross that milestone. He drew within three games of Allen after beating Kansas State on March 5 — the last time the Jayhawks won — and would need to reach the Elite Eight to equal him and the Final Four to pass him. Otherwise, that celebration will have to wait until November.
“I knew he’d do a great job here,” ESPN analyst Jay Bilas told reporters in Lawrence in February, asked about the prospect of Self catching Allen. “I don’t think anybody could have imagined it’d be like this.
“The high-level consistency has been the thing above everything else, that every year, no matter the personnel, they’re contending. And they play such high-level basketball and compete and never lose here. It’s remarkable. I can’t think of very many things like it. Maybe it’s happened before, but I haven’t seen it.”
2024 NCAA Tournament Preview
A look at the rest of the Midwest Region
Why KU men’s basketball could or could not win the NCAA title
Forgotten regular-season moments
Venues, seeding could make for atypical postseason run
KU progresses toward milestones affected by IARP
Can Johnny Furphy come of age in the tournament?
