People say KU was more competitive last season, and that might be true I guess, but I don't really think it's significant at all. The bottom line is, they only won one game. That's the fewest wins they've had since '88, when they only played 11 games. They say the games were closer last season, and the point differentials show that they're marginally right:
In 2012, the conference point differential for KU was 145-341 (196) (-22/gm).
In '10, it was 157-393 (236) (-26/gm).
In '11, it was 116-335 (219) (-27/gm).
So to some degree, KU fans are right. On average, KU was 4 points more competitive per game than they were in 2010. But they were still really, really bad last season. -22/gm in conference is super bad. Just awful. It's easy to point to games like Tech and Texas and (to a far lesser extent, Oklahoma State) and say "hey! kansas almost won!"
But Gill had games like that too. Who could forget those Iowa State and Baylor (moreso Baylor) heartbreakers in '11? Also, Gill even managed to win a conference game once in 2010.
So, to sum it up, yes, on average, KU kept it marginally closer in 2012 than they did in either of the prior two years. They were still astoundingly bad and won zero conference games. They were far from actually competitive. And the couple times they were within arms reach, they blew it, just like they did in those situations under Gill (except the one time when Gill didn't blow it).
Is Weiss a better coach than Gill? Maybe. But if he is, he sure didn't prove it last season.
