Kansas basketball: ESPN exaggerates rivalry

Many Kansas basketball fans miss being part of a real big-time rivalry. Jayhawk fans get tired of hearing about North Carolina and Duke.

After a couple of amazing weekends, Kansas basketball fans had a tough Saturday afternoon.  The Big 12 Champions had little motivation and played like it in the meaningless 82-64 end to the regular season. Bill Self’s guys have played well and won big games the past two weekends. Devonte Graham couldn’t do it all in the loss to the Cowboys. Forget the season sweep. It didn’t matter.

Following the setback in Stillwater, many die hard Kansas basketball fans tuned into North Carolina’s Saturday night game at Cameron Indoor Stadium. If Bill didn’t win, let’s watch Roy Williams and the Tar Heels knock off the Dukies. As a matter of fact, Roy’s boys won the first half but didn’t finish strong.

The moment the ESPN broadcast from Cameron Indoor Stadium came on, the announcers started screaming about the rivalry. Jay Bilas, who is usually great to Jayhawks, could not and would not shut up about the Tobacco Road rivalry. I’ve heard from several Kansas basketball fans who thought the same thing I did.  The Kansas-Missouri rivalry used to be just as big. In fact it was  bigger.

Bilas is good but missed the mark

Then Bilas said something that that I thought was ridiculous. Even more ridiculous than his comments last week about the FBI scandal.  The former Blue Devil said the rivalry with North Carolina is the greatest in all of sports.

"The passion in this rivalry is unmatched, especially in this building.  Who has had this type of rivalry at this level of excellence over this length of time?"

Gene Wojciechowski halftime piece on the rivalry suggested it was Ali vs Fraizer or Red Sox vs Yankees. He said it was the game other rivalries set their DVRs for. Yes, television makes it bigger and the Big 12 misses that attention lost when the Tigers moved away. Basketball and football recruits certainly notice.

Next: More history ahead for Devonte Graham

This has nothing to do with the team in Manhattan

Jayhawk fans probably agree with some of what Bilas or Wojciechowski said. The rivalry is a good one but they exaggerate tremendously. That ACC rivalry does not and never will have the history and venom that exists between Kansas and Missouri that dates to the mid 1800s.

Remember the feeling you had last summer when someone hinted the Jayhawks might play an exhibition in Kansas City?  It was a throw away practice game for charity but the excitement of the Border War rivalry will never die and has far deeper roots than anything ever seen in Durham or Chapel Hill. All Jayhawks miss it. Bill Self didn’t kill it. We know who did and they live in Columbia.