Every single night it seems like Kansas is looking over at a top-25 team or a fringe top-25 squad. It turns They've already played Duke, Villanova, Florida, San Diego State, Kansas State (twice), Iowa State (twice), Oklahoma State, Baylor (twice), West Virginia and Texas with matchups against three more potential NCAA Tournament teams ahead before March 8.
There aren’t many couch potato nights for Kansas. In the opinion of CBS Sports bracketologist, Jerry Palm, the Jayhawks are running with the bulls every night.
According to @jppalmCBS Kansas has played most difficult schedule in 20 years by a significant margin.
— Michael DeCourcy (@tsnmike) February 14, 2014
It seems like a bit of a stretch, especially when you consider that Michigan has played an equally difficult schedule just this season according to some metrics.
However, if factor in strength of schedule and opponent winning percentage there is some credence to Palm’s statement.
Here are the teams with the No. 1 strength of schedule and opponent winning percentages from the toughest schedules over the past decade according to CBSSports.com’s database. Using that benchmark, Kansas actually hovers over them and it’s not even close. The numbers don’t lie.
13-14: Kansas, SOS: 0.6709%, opponent winning percentage: 0.7222% (1)
12-13: Duke, SOS: 0.6068%, opponent win percentage: 0.6364% (1)
11-12: Georgetown: SOS: 0.6186%, opponent win percentage: 0.6503%
10-11: Georgetown: SOS: 0.6197%, opponent win percentage: 0.6519%
09-10: Duke, SOS: 0.6086%, opponent win percentage: 0.6321% (3rd in nation)
08-09: Tennessee, SOS: 0.6044%, opponent win percentage: 0.6312% (1)
07-08: Kentucky, SOS: 0.6204%, opponent win percentage: 0.6491% (1)
06-07: Duke, SOS: 0.6068%, opponent win percentage: 0.6341% (2)
05-06: Kansas, SOS: 0.6252%, opponent win percentage: 0.6577% (1)
04-05: Alabama, SOS: 0.6127%, opponent win percentage: 0.6389% (2)
03-04: UGA, SOS: 0.6123%, opponent win percentage: 0.6379% (1)
02-03: Arizona, SOS: 0.6102%
01-02: UGA, SOS: 0.6127%
00-01: Kentucky, SOS: 0.6170%
99-00: Florida State. SOS: 0.6039%
98-99: Maryland, SOS: 0.6332%
97-98: UNC, SOS: 0.6092%
96-97: Georgia Tech, SOS: 0.6245%
95-96: Duke, SOS: 0.6063%, opponent win percentage: 0.6309% (1)
94-95: Virginia, SOS: 0.6041%, opponent win percentage: 0.6305% (1)
