It is not as if Kentucky Wildcats basketball fans have not had enough to worry about in this winter of UK basketball discontent.
So don’t look now, Kentucky’s 8-14 slog and a late-season Kansas hot streak that has seen Bill Self’s Jayhawks (18-8) win six of their last seven games has KU in a threatening position to catch UK in the college basketball all-time wins race.
After Kentucky lost to Florida on Saturday and Kansas upset previously unbeaten Baylor, the advantage for the Wildcats (2,326 all-time wins) over the Jayhawks (2,320) is down to six victories.
Entering the 2020-21 season, Kentucky’s lead over Kansas was 16 wins — 2,318 to 2,302.
It is not impossible that KU will catch UK before “One Shining Moment” plays.
When Self was hired as the head coach at Kansas before the 2003-04 season, the Jayhawks were 47 victories behind Kentucky, seven behind North Carolina and stood third in all-time wins.
Since then, KU has been on a relentless march toward the top of the all-time college hoops standings. In 18 seasons as Kansas coach, Self has directed the Jayhawks to nine seasons with 30-plus wins.
Particularly damaging to Kentucky was the 2007-08 season, when UK went 18-13 in Billy Gillispie’s first year as Wildcats coach while Self and Kansas were going 37-3 and winning the national title.
To fully grasp the level of excellence Self has produced at Kansas, consider: Even including this year’s struggles, Kentucky has won a robust 78.8 percent of its games since John Calipari was hired as Wildcats coach before the 2009-10 season.
In that span, UK has produced five seasons with at least 30 wins plus two more with 29 victories.
Nevertheless, the Cats (338 victories) are minus-12 to Kansas (350) in all-time wins during the Calipari coaching era.
Seasoned UK backers will recall that Kentucky once before lost its status as college basketball’s wins king only to wrest that title back.
When the Wildcats had back-to-back seasons of 13 (13-19) and 14 (14-14) wins in 1988-89 and ‘89-90, it opened the door for North Carolina to supplant UK as the winningest program.
On March 17, 1990, Dean Smith’s Tar Heels beat Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament’s round of 32 to assume the all-time wins lead, 1,479-1,478.
When North Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas all made the 1993 Final Four, the all-time wins totals entering the national semifinals stood 1. Tar Heels 1,568; 2. Wildcats 1,560; 3. Jayhawks 1,515.
However, after Rick Pitino fully rebuilt UK from the ashes of the Eddie Sutton-era NCAA probation, the tide turned back toward Kentucky.
During 1995-96, as Pitino’s best UK team went 34-2 and won the national title, the Wildcats gained 13 victories over North Carolina (21-11 that season) and ended the year back on top in all-time wins by three victories.
The following season, Pitino’s last as UK coach, Kentucky gained seven more wins on North Carolina (35 to 28).
The UK program has been the all-time wins leader ever since.
Long term, the wild card in the current Kansas pursuit of Kentucky is that the NCAA has alleged Self and the KU program have committed five Level One rules violations.
Obviously, Kansas vacating prior wins or receiving sanctions of such severity that its future competitiveness is compromised could have profound implications in the all-time wins battle.
Making the outcome more uncertain than normal, Kansas has chosen to have its case tried via the NCAA’s new Independent Accountability Resolution Process rather than in front of the traditional Committee on Infractions.
Self recently told the Kansas City Star that he expected a “late-summer, early-fall resolution” of the case.
In the short term, it is at least possible that Kansas catches Kentucky before the final ball is bounced this season.
KU, now ranked 13th, had finished its regular-season schedule with the upset of then-No. 2 Baylor, but has since added a home game with UTEP (12-10).
Meanwhile, Kentucky has a road game at Mississippi (13-10), followed by a rescheduled home contest with South Carolina (6-12) left.
The most likely outcomes would be KU beating the Miners and UK losing at Ole Miss but beating South Carolina.
In other words, a wins wash.
Then, if Kentucky lost its first game in the SEC Tournament while Kansas both won the Big 12 tourney (which would take three victories) and then reached the NCAA Elite Eight (three more Ws), you’d have an all-time wins tie.
Now, Baylor will be favored to win the Big 12 tourney and, subject to the random hand of NCAA Tournament matchups, an Elite Eight trip seems ambitious for the current Kansas roster.
Still, the prospect of what has already been a season of Wildcats anguish perhaps ending with Kentucky losing its status as college basketball’s all-times wins leader gives a restive Big Blue Nation something else to fret over.
