With any streak, it eventually has to end.  What the Kansas Jayhawks had done was incredible – and might never be matched again.  Kansas had won 14 straight Big 12 championships.

But last night as I was yelling at my computer about why I had all these scores of 0-0, I didn’t even realize that I could be watching history.  That is because the Kansas Jayhawks were on the road being upset by the Oklahoma Sooners (on the Sooners’ Senior Night).  The Jayhawks were always going to need help – as they were behind both Texas Tech and Kansas State going into the week.  But they are now 2 games back of both teams with everyone only having one game left to play.  There will be no regular season banner in Lawrence this year.

Kansas was supposed to be amazing this year – there have been multiple years where pundits would say this streak would finally end just to watch the Jayhawks chalk up another title.  This was not supposed to be one of those years – they were the preseason #1 team in the country.  Not just the #1 team in the Big 12 – the entire country.  But injuries and suspensions and a strange leave of absence have turned this title contender into simply a really good team which can be beat by other good teams with the right circumstances.  Oklahoma on Senior Night trying to get off the bubble certainly qualified.

That being said, I do have to rant – and the bad karma that has hit the Jayhawks gives me a reason to.  That is because the school’s reaction to sophomore Silvio De Souza’s further suspension is ridiculous.

For those who don’t know, Silvio De Souza because in October, it was revealed in federal court that Adidas consultant TJ Gassnola had paid De Souza’s guardian $2,500 – presumably as a payment to go to college at Kansas and eventually sign with Adidas.  And so, he has been sitting ever since – until February, when the NCAA ended the suspense and ruled him ineligible for the rest of this season and all of next season.  This situation prompted the following statement from Kansas head coach Bill Self.

“In my 30-plus years of coaching college basketball, I have never witnessed such a mean-spirited and vindictive punishment against a young man who did nothing wrong.  To take away his opportunity to play college basketball is shameful and a failure of the NCAA.”

So, to be fair – I know nothing about Silvio De Souza – maybe he is a great kid and simply an innocent pawn in the horrible dark side of college basketball that the NCAA would rather just have swept under the rug instead of be brought out into the headlines from time to time as the FBI successfully shows evidence of the corruption that happens to get top college basketball recruits.

But regardless of if this young man himself did nothing wrong, his guardian was paid money (and proven by the FBI) – the NCAA has to penalize him.  To be quite honest, considering how high profile the FBI case is, I am surprised he was given the chance to play a senior season if he sticks around.  In most of these cases, by the time the NCAA can identify the corruption, the player is already long gone to the NBA – and the only punishment that can be given is to the school.  Silvio De Souza is part of what might be the biggest scandal in NCAA athletics – and is still a student that can actually be declared ineligible.  The NCAA had to act – and act swiftly to try to show how stiff the penalty will be for this.

That being said, you have to wonder.  Kansas has been great for so long.  They have won 14 straight Big 12 championships as well as making it to 3 Final Fours during that span with a National Championship in 2008.  Every year, they have one of the best recruiting classes in basketball.  I would like to believe that is because they have had great coaches and top players like to go to successful programs.  But it is really hard to believe that De Souza was an isolated case that Kansas knew nothing about.

It is really unclear what other evidence is out there and how involved Kansas is in this – while it is hard to give them the benefit of the doubt, I do truly believe that the evidence needs to come out completely before any school can be dragged into this mess.  It appears as though the NCAA isn’t going to be allowed to truly investigate the schools on this until the FBI is done.  Who knows how much the FBI knows about the corruption of college basketball recruiting – and how much of that the NCAA already knows vs. will eventually be told.  But Bill Self’s statement – while might seem like he is standing up for his player – is totally out of line.  While the evidence in the federal court might not have fully led to Kansas, it clearly revealed that this particular student athlete’s family was paid and thus, he should be ineligible.

If Bill Self is going to come out and be righteous and make this type of declaration, I really hope that he is truly not involved in any of this corruption.  For if he is, he might actually find out what a mean-spirited and vindictive punishment  really is by the time the NCAA gets finished with him and the Kansas basketball program.