What was that? "MOJO TRANSFER!"



  • 23 times an opponent has led at halftime in Allen Fieldhouse. KU has won 17/23 of those games.

    Arizona St is the only team to win in Allen when losing at halftime. Only 4 teams have even won the 2nd half in scoring when losing at halftime 4/74.

    On the road: Losing at halftime 22/61 (36%), opponents have won 16/22 games when leading at halftime. 2nd half adjustments are tough on the road.

    KU tied or winning at halftime on the road has won 31/39 (79%).

    Neutral Court: KU has been down at halftime in 8/21 games and lost 4/8 of those.

    KU has lost 1/13 games it led at halftime (Dayton 2022).

    Big-12 Tourney/NCAA Tourney:

    KU has been down in 9/24 games and lost 4/9 of those with UNC marking the biggest comeback.

    KU hasn’t lost a tourney game it has led at halftime in the last 5 years.

    KU trailing at halftime (1-9 points), 4/4 wins.



  • @BeddieKU23 - great information! Thanks for your work here.



  • @Gorilla72

    Thanks, saw the request and figured this was in my wheelhouse. While it took a lot of time to get the last 5 years it was actually kind of cool reliving the games and these stats are so crazy. Some of them were hard to believe



  • Sure, the Jayhawks have more overall losses than Alabama, Houston and Purdue, and they’re lower in the NET and most predictive metrics, but their record-based résumé is unparalleled. They have the No. 1 overall strength of schedule, the most Quadrant 1 wins in the country – by four – and the most Quadrant 1 and 2 wins in the country, by three. The average NET of their wins is comfortably the lowest, and they’re tied for the lowest average NET in losses. All five of their losses were to teams ranked in last week’s AP poll.

    Kansas has four games left: at TCU and Texas and hosting West Virginia and Texas Tech. If the Jayhawks win all four, I don’t see how they go into Champ Week without a chance to earn the overall 1-seed on Selection Sunday.

    From Jeff Borzello: 3. Kansas Jayhawks (22-5) Previous ranking: 4 This week: at TCU (Monday), vs. West Virginia (Saturday)

    Start the back-to-back national championship talk. Kansas’ second half against Baylor on Saturday was an exceptional 20-minute display – the Jayhawks outscored the Bears 55-26 en route to an 87-71 win. Dajuan Harris Jr. was the catalyst, finishing with 14 points and nine assists. Jalen Wilson did usual Jalen Wilson things, scoring 21 points and grabbing 13 boards. And Kansas’ defense, after letting Baylor’s backcourt do whatever it wanted in the first half, dialed in. A positive trend for the Jayhawks: Wilson’s supporting cast. I’ve written a few times this season how Wilson getting consistent help generally results in wins for Kansas. Against Baylor, three other players scored at least 14 points. It was the same against Oklahoma State. Four guys hit double figures in the win over Oklahoma. Kansas is rounding into form at the right time.



  • @BeddieKU23 I’d be very interested to know WHY they wore those idiotic uniforms with the flowers and butterflies and unicorns. ??? I’m pretty sure they had all that crap on them - but i had to keep diverting my eyes so they wouldn’t burn. Seriously, Great info - thanks!



  • @BeddieKU23

    Outstanding work! This says so much!

    “Here’s a crazy, crazy one. KU has trailed at half (1-9 points) in 24 games. KU has won ALL 24. They have been tied at half in only 10 games, 8/10 win record.”

    So we kick butt when being down under 10 at half. Undefeated! Even better than if we are tied.

    All that being said… having a 92% win rate when being up at half is overwhelming when you consider the sample size of 141 games. I think I would rather rely on the 92% of 141 games over the 100% of 24 games. Still…

    Looking at tonight’s game… I highly suggest we get out and take a halftime lead in this one. TCU has some catching up to do in our league and also heading into March so they will be pumped up. Miles is back and we didn’t know how to handle him or the TCU offense in AFH.

    Even though we have a disadvantage of venue (over playing in AFH), I think we have improved considerably since our last meeting while TCU is struggling to catch back up after losing Miles for several games. Let’s hope this is the difference and we keep piling up the “Ws” as March approaches and a 1-seed is in sight!

    Key match-up: Miles vs Harris. Miles owned us last time and Harris only shot 4 times. Everyone now is focused on Harris scoring… Can he do it on the road against Miles? Going to be tough and less likely in the half-court offense. We better rebound and defend well so we can push the ball in the open court. Open-court offense also creates many scoring opportunities for Juan.

    Strategy: Defend, rebound, push open-court offense. Defense leads the charge… something we can do as well on the road or at home. Guard from half-court and trap. Do this right from the beginning so TCU can never feel comfortable in this game!

    Big key is to NOT be down by double-digits at half!



  • Just to run with the Mojo Hypothesis, Beddie’s data generally supports what we might expect if Mojo exists: it’s easier to bring and sustain it at home. And the particular quality of Mojo at Allen - let’s call it PhogMojo - apparently surges if the team is down a few at half (rather than down a bunch, say), anyway this is how I’d explain the 100 percent correlation between 1-9 point halftime deficits and wins. Of course there are many other factors that influence it (adjustments, inspirational speeches, etc.) so we’d have to do a game-by-game assessment of whether/how much we can see Mojoshifts in those games. I just bet, though, that we’d find palpable shifts most of the time between both the crowd and team state of mind. So, I wonder if Mojo might be an essential quality or capacity in home court advantage - might explain, that is, the intangible but ultimately measurable tilt in the playingfield.



  • @BeddieKU23

    So… this is VITAL for us to obtain victories…

    We NEVER want to be down +10 at halftime! Even though we won 7 of those… we dropped 32! We’ve only lost 42 games in this period… 32 by being down +10 at halftime.

    Amazing stats… you can almost set your watch by seeing the halftime score.

    Let’s look at this in percentages… you may need to correct me:

    KU Winning %

    KU down +10 at half: 21%

    KU down 1-9 at half: 100%

    KU tied at half: 80%

    KU leading at half: 91%

    So overall, we win at about a 90% clip whenever we are not down by more than 9 at halftime! Probably not nearly this good while on the road.



  • These stats are crazy… when considering his 2 national titles, conference winning streak, recruiting class rankings, and overall winning percentage against the strength of schedule…

    Don’t we have to consider Coach Self the best D1 men’s coach of all time? GOAT!

    John Wooden? Are we comparing apples to apples?



  • I don’t think I’m ready to anoint him Goat yet. Definitely best active coach. But. And I say this with the hope that he will stay longer than many think he will. CS could imo do things over the next 10-15 seasons that are somewhat unfathomable outside of John woodens consecutive NC streak. I honestly think he has adapted to what the game needs so well, and to what the kids need so well that he could pull off another 4-5 NC’s in that time span. Hope I’m right and if so there won’t be anymore need for Goat discussions. Lol



  • @cragarhawk Definitely one of those grey areas





  • @cragarhawk Agreed, but it’s a very short list of GOAT candidates, maybe just BS and JW, at least it looks that way to me.



  • @cragarhawk said in What was that? "MOJO TRANSFER!":

    I don’t think I’m ready to anoint him Goat yet. Definitely best active coach. But. And I say this with the hope that he will stay longer than many think he will. CS could imo do things over the next 10-15 seasons that are somewhat unfathomable outside of John woodens consecutive NC streak. I honestly think he has adapted to what the game needs so well, and to what the kids need so well that he could pull off another 4-5 NC’s in that time span. Hope I’m right and if so there won’t be anymore need for Goat discussions. Lol

    Definitely best active coach. And, do I believe he is one of the handful best ever. But, in the pantheon of GOAT, he’s not there yet although is likely to end up on Mt. Rushmore. Others might weigh these differently, but I would posit that the key metrics are: national championships, wins, winning percentage, overall consistency, and conference titles - roughly in that order for me.

    Who is he definitely or arguably behind as of now on some combination of these: Wooden K Roy Dean Smith Calhoun Rupp Knight Boeheim (not really)

    In terms of consistency and conference dominance, HCBS is already arguably top of the mount. After next year, he should be in the top 10 of all time wins. Would need another ~8 years to get to 1000. He’s near the top in winning percentage. With just the same level of consistent success for another 5 years, I think he passes all but Wooden, K and maybe Roy (who doesn’t get nearly enough credit with his success at 2 programs and 3 NCs). One more NC is enough to pass Roy with everything else to his credit.



  • Everyone is vying for the #2 spot. Wooden has #1 tied up in a way that can’t be replicated. - if all you care about are championships and not how they came to be. For modern coaches Bill has to be top 5 if not top 3. For active coaches #1, every one of his peers retired.



  • I think he’ll be considered the GOAT after two more final fours and one of those being a title. We all bring up Wooden but the landscape then was not even close to being how it is today and yet Self is still consistent. I’m not sure he’ll coach long enough to get a fourth title but I’d love to be proven wrong!



  • He’d definitely go up a peg or two if he had back to back natties. 🏆🏆

    And just read a PHOF quote from Seth Greenberg “Bill Self is one of those guys who can take his team and beat you, and he can take your team and beat you”



  • Bill will have to do something special to pass up K for GOAT status. Just the truth, whether we like it or not. If anyone were going to go back to back to back it would be Billy Eugene.



  • @StLJhawk

    Best thing that ass-hat has said in many moons.



  • @dylans It’s not the same. Yes, Wooden was an incredible coach. But, he had unlimited access to whomever he wanted. And everyone wanted to play for him. I don’t know (or believe) that he’d have those kinds of numbers in today’s world.



  • @BeddieKU23 said in What was that? "MOJO TRANSFER!":

    @Gorilla72

    Thanks, saw the request and figured this was in my wheelhouse. While it took a lot of time to get the last 5 years it was actually kind of cool reliving the games and these stats are so crazy. Some of them were hard to believe

    One of the best ones was when we erased a double digit 2nd half lead on the road to WVU and ended up winning easily. That game sticks out to me.



  • @Jethro

    For some reason the WVU home game with Devonte sticks out more than that Road Game in my head but when I was collecting the data that game was a definite outlier.

    Down 13 at half, outscored them by 18 in the second half.

    Here’s some stats on KU/West Virginia last 5 years. 14 games.

    First half, KU +2.5 pts avg ahead

    Second Half, KU +8.5 pts avg ahead

    KU has beaten West Virginia on average by 10 points in their last 14 matchups. 12-2 record in this span, both losses on the road.



  • KU’s record last 5 years against Big-12 foes.

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  • @BeddieKU23 That list shows how tough our league has been. There’s no team there that we’ve absolutely owned.



  • I think both home games will be tough.



  • @nuleafjhawk said in What was that? "MOJO TRANSFER!":

    @dylans It’s not the same. Yes, Wooden was an incredible coach. But, he had unlimited access to whomever he wanted. And everyone wanted to play for him. I don’t know (or believe) that he’d have those kinds of numbers in today’s world.

    I don’t believe he would either, but he did. No taking away what happened. Many think he was a cheater. The tournament had less participants. He got all the talent Etc. he just won it every stinking year. - if just talent accumulation was all it took to win Kentucky would have won most years since Cal arrived.

    The only argument that I feel isn’t disingenuous is - there is no catching him so why talk about Wooden? Forget he exists and your guy can be considered for GOAT

    Modern GoAT status is up for debate. All time is still Wooden’s. For comparison Wooden coached 27 years and won 10 championships. Coach K - 5 championships in 42 years. Bill has 2 in 25 years, but he’s the GOAT in my heart.



  • @dylans Well said.


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