Schedules

The Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas basketball team both announced their upcoming schedules over the past couple of days and both have one thing in common--a high degree of difficulty.

Kansas released its non-conference schedule which will be the prelude to a conference season where, for the first time since the days of the Big 8, home-and-away series will be played with all conference members. In the non-conference portion of the schedule, KU faces none other than the duo of Kentucky (in New York) and Ohio State (at home), coupled with a trip to the Maui Invitational where the field includes the likes of Duke, Georgetown, UCLA, Michigan, Memphis and Tennessee. Other notable opponents include USC (in Los Angeles now after initial reports indicated that game might move to Wichita) and Davidson (in Sprint Center on Monday, December 19.)

The rough schedule is both blessing and curse--playing the best always is good prep for the post-season yet Kansas will have to face Kentucky early, on November 15, followed by the trip to Hawaii the following week. That's hardly the recipe for success for a team needing to fill gaps created by the departures of the Morris twins and Josh Selby. Bill Self has to hope that a team cutting its teeth early with these games, along with Jared Sullinger and OSU on December 10, will be primed and ready once the league season starts in January.

As for the Chiefs, they will not replicate their 2010 success by playing an equally soft schedule this fall. Kansas City must go on the road to Detroit (no longer an automatic win), Indianapolis, Chicago, New York Jets and New England, in addition to road visits to their division foes. The home schedule includes Minnesota, Miami (6-2 on the road last year), Pittsburgh and Green Bay.

One doesn't have to venture out on a long limb to predict that the Chiefs will not duplicate their 10-6 record of last season--they have a murderous schedule in 2011. As for the Jayhawks, an 8-5 non-conference start is not out of the question given who's on the schedule. My guess is that KU will start 10-3 with likely losses coming against Kentucky in New York and in games in Hawaii.