The Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball program of the University of Kansas and is one of the most successful programs in the history of college basketball. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I and the team competes in the Big 12 Conference.
The Jayhawks' first coach was the inventor of the game, James Naismith, who is, ironically, the only coach in the program's history with a losing record. The Kansas basketball program has produced many notable professional players, including Clyde Lovellette, Wilt Chamberlain, Jo Jo White, Danny Manning, Paul Pierce, Mario Chalmers and coaches (including Phog Allen, Adolph Rupp, John McLendon, Dean Smith, Dutch Lonborg, Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Bill Self). Allen founded the National Association of Basketball Coaches and with Lonborg was an early proponent of the NCAA tournament.
In 2008, ESPN ranked Kansas second on a list of the most prestigious programs of the modern college basketball era, behind only Duke. Kansas has the longest current streak of consecutive NCAA tournament appearances (23), holds the longest current streak of winning seasons (29), has the most winning seasons in Division I history (93), the most non-losing seasons (.500 or better) in NCAA history (96), the most conference championships in Division I history (55), the most First Team All Americans in Division I history (20), the most First Team All American Selections in Division I history (28), is second in Division I all time winning percentage (.720), and is second in Division I all time wins (2,079).
Read more about Kansas Jayhawks Men's Basketball: History, Rank in Notable Areas, Notable Games, Coaches, Facilities, Season By Season Results, Record Vs. Big 12 Opponents
Famous quotes containing the words kansas, men and/or basketball:
“Since the Civil War its six states have produced fewer political ideas, as political ideas run in the Republic, than any average county in Kansas or Nebraska.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“As men get on in life, they acquire a love for sincerity, and somewhat less solicitude to be lulled or amused. In the progress of the character, there is an increasing faith in the moral sentiment, and a decreasing faith in propositions.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Perhaps basketball and poetry have just a few things in common, but the most important is the possibility of transcendence. The opposite is labor. In writing, every writer knows when he or she is laboring to achieve an effect. You want to get from here to there, but find yourself willing it, forcing it. The equivalent in basketball is aiming your shot, a kind of strained and usually ineffective purposefulness. What you want is to be in some kind of flow, each next moment a discovery.”
—Stephen Dunn (b. 1939)