I thought Kansas was a hoops school

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Earlier this week, I spent some time in Lawrence working on a story about Kansas football.

Kansas football?

Yep, Kansas football.

Isn’t Kansas a basketball school? I think so, but folks are definitely keeping an eye on football this year. The Jayhawks are undefeated, one of only three remaining undefeated teams in the country.

A friend of mine, who’s a big enough KU fan to have basketball and football season tickets, told me that her husband had to remind her about the first exhibition basketball game.

I guarantee that’s never happened before.

Usually by now, thoughts among the Jayhawk faithful have turned to the hardwood. Football, after all, is often a grueling struggle of not just losses but beat downs. Kansas football has been a laughing stock, even among Kansas fans.

The long-standing joke among students has been that football season isthe time you perfected the chants and the cheers for basketball.

Mind you, basketball at Kansas is hardly dead. Students camped out earlier this week for the basketball team’s game. Its exhibition game, that is.

Still, there’s a whole new vibe around football in Lawrence. It wasn’t so many years ago, that the athletic department lured fans to the football team’s home opener with basketball. Back in 2004, it invited fans to come to the football stadium a few hours early. The reason? To watch the basketball team’s exhibition at the University of British Columbia live on the jumbotron. The idea, of course, was for folks to stick around for the football game. Instead, some came for the basketball but left before the football.