Restoring Order: KU Extends Streak of Consecutive Conference Titles to 12

Kansas, after things panned out the second half of league competition following an overtime victory against Kentucky in a break in conference play, is one year away from matching UCLA for most consecutive regular-season conference championships. The Jayhawks, after dropping three league road contests by double digits in a five-game span, briefly were in jeopardy of seeing the end of their sterling Big 12 Conference track record of titles under coach Bill Self while surviving the loss of 15 undergraduates in the previous nine NBA drafts - 2007 (Julian Wright), 2008 (Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush), 2010 (Cole Aldrich and Xavier Henry), 2011 (Marcus Morris, Markieff Morris and Josh Selby), 2012 (Thomas Robinson), 2013 (Ben McLemore), 2014 (Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins) and 2015 (Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre Jr.).

UCLA's streak of 13 straight undisputed league titles from 1967 through 1979, divided among three coaches, is considered one of the foremost achievements in NCAA history. Kansas' regular-season league losses in the last 12 seasons came against Baylor (one), Iowa State (four), Kansas State (five), Missouri (four), Oklahoma (three), Oklahoma State (six), Texas (four), Texas A&M (one), Texas Christian (one), Texas Tech (three) and West Virginia (three). None of the Jayhawks' last 11 teams had a player average more than 20 points per game.

Jerry Tarkanian was coach for two of the schools boasting the longest league streaks (Long Beach State and UNLV). Following is a summary of the eight schools securing at least eight straight regular-season league titles:

UCLA (13 in Pacific-8/10; 171-15 league record from 1966-67 through 1978-79)

Kansas (12 in Big 12; 152-32 from 2004-05 through 2014-15)

NOTE: Kansas tied Oklahoma in 2004-05, Texas in 2005-06 and 2007-08 and Kansas State in 2012-13.

Gonzaga (11 in West Coast; 143-15 from 2000-01 through 2010-11)

NOTE: Gonzaga tied Pepperdine in 2001-02 and Saint Mary's in 2010-11.

Connecticut (10 in Yankee; 71-8 from 1950-51 through 1959-60)

UNLV (10 in PCAA/Big West; 165-13 from 1982-83 through 1991-92)

NOTE: UNLV tied New Mexico State in 1989-90.

Idaho State (eight in Rocky Mountain; 76-4 from 1952-53 through 1959-60)

Kentucky (eight in SEC; 82-3 from 1944-45 through 1951-52)

NOTES: Kentucky tied Tennessee in 1944-45 and Louisiana State in 1945-46. . . . UK did not field a team in 1952-53 before tying LSU in 1953-54 and winning outright in 1954-55.

Long Beach State (eight in PCAA; 75-13 from 1969-70 through 1976-77)

NOTE: Long Beach State tied Cal State Fullerton in 1975-76 and San Diego State in 1976-77.