Bill Self is being modest. He's in his office, surrounded by pictures and mementos from a national championship and a mess of other happy moments at Kansas when you point out that there just isn't anything else like this going on in college basketball.
"We're not doing anything different," he says. "We've just been real fortunate."
Except he's wrong. Kansas is doing something different than every other major conference basketball program in the country, something that has never been more obvious.
The Jayhawks are working on a seventh consecutive conference championship, perhaps college basketball's most impressive accomplishment. No other school in a major conference has won even six straight titles since — wait for it — John Wooden and UCLA in the 1970s.
This kind of thing just doesn't happen in modern, big-time college basketball, and does anybody really believe the Jayhawks won't win again this year?
Think of it like this: Before Kansas even played its first Big 12 game Wednesday, it already held a half-game lead over preseason favorite Kansas State that felt much bigger with the Wildcats' current issues.
Texas might be KU's stiffest competition, but the Lorghorns are sure to lose at least a few games to less-talented teams. Missouri is intriguing but hasn't won a conference title in 17 years. Baylor is talented but lost three games against the nation's 247th-ranked schedule.
This is how it always seems to go in the Big 12. Other schools build up, get hyped up, and always fall short.
Meanwhile, Kansas loses two NBA lottery picks plus the winningest player in program history and may actually be better. "Kansas math" wins again.
The rest of the college basketball world lives in cycles. Duke is the nation's No. 1 team now but tied for sixth in the ACC four years ago. Ohio State is No. 2, and missed the NCAA tournament three years ago. Michigan State is famous for making six of the last 12 Final Fours, but the Spartans also finished fifth or worse in the Big Ten in three of those other seasons.
The last time Kansas didn't win at least a share of the Big 12 was 2004, when Josh Selby was 13 years old, Wayne Simien led KU in scoring, and Danny Manning was just a season removed from the NBA.
Look at what other powers have done since then.
Kentucky hired two new coaches, UCLA and Florida (twice) missed the NCAA tournament, Syracuse finished ninth in the Big East one year, and Georgetown 11th in a different year.
In the Big 12, only Texas and Baylor have the same coaches as 2004.
Not that the Jayhawks haven't seen their share of struggles. They lost six of their last nine games one year, four of their first seven another year, and dealt with J.R. Giddens getting slashed by a knife outside a bar.
Two years ago, they lost seven of their top nine scorers and the entire starting lineup. They've lost players to the NBA and to transfers and to injuries and, every season for the last six, won the conference championship.
KU has the best players most years, and good players should win, but there's more to it. Self references luck, and much has been made of how things always seem to work out for him — particularly in recruiting. Julian Wright practically forced KU to sign him, the Morris twins came after being recruited for only a few weeks, and nothing tops the absurdity that put Brandon Rush in Lawrence for three years.
Rush wanted no part of college, but he didn't like his draft position out of high school or after his freshman year, tore his knee after his sophomore year, and then led the team in scoring during the national-title season.
There's logic to the madness too. Self emphasizes winning the league more than other big-time coaches. At the end of every huddle, the players scream "Big 12 champs!" Self sees league titles as something he can control, a safe house of sorts away from the crapshoot of the NCAA tournament.
Maybe it helps that Self grew up in Oklahoma and played in the old Big 8, so he gets the emotions and traditions involved. He values the rivalries. Maybe league championships mean a little more to Self than a contract bonus and extra line on the recruiting brochure.
Whatever, it has almost become expected around here, background music in the Kansas City sports scene. But the Jayhawks resumed what might be the most notable ongoing streak in college basketball Wednesday night by beating Iowa State, the beginning of what sure looks like a seventh consecutive league championship.
That's more than luck.
"Well, yeah," Self says. "It's pretty remarkable."