Bill Self tension in Big 12 Men's Basketball is the most consistent in all sports. self Kansas J Hawks For the 14th consecutive year from 2002 to 2018, he won at least a share of the Big 12 regular season championship, breaking the record previously held by the UCLA Bruins at John Wood. Even after the streak broke, Kansas bouncing off in 2020 with one of the greatest teams of all time before the pandemic was cancelled in the NCAA Tournament. Two years later, he found red by leading the Jayhawks to the 2022 national championship with a team featuring Christian Brown and Ochaiagbaji.
This was thought to be the year the selfie Jayhawks bouncing off after a characterless down season a year ago. Hunter Dickinson, forward KJ Adams and point guard Dajuan Harris. A five-star recruit landed on the big, flexible man Floyly Bidonga. The self then entered the transfer portal with one of the largest nil money bags in the country and essentially chose the player to increase his core.
Kansas brought in AJ Storr, a talented Wisconsin wing scorer. After a prolific three-year career in South Dakota, he signed Lawrence native Zeke Mayo. He got a big wing from Alabama's Lilan Griffin and filled the bench with a star from northern Illinois (David Coit) and a role player from Mississippi (Shakeel Moore).
When the preseason poll was released, Kansas sat in the familiar position of being number one. These Jayhawks were supposed to be a premium example of how to build a roster in their NIL era. The country's most coveted transfer had one of the nation's oldest and most experienced rosters during the final season of Bonus Covid.
What I learned this year is that talent on paper doesn't matter when the work doesn't suit you. Experience can only take you so far when it comes to being built to succeed in 2010 rather than 2025.
BYU Tuesday night, 91-57, blowing up Kansas. This loss quickly drops preseason No. 1 from next week's polls, suddenly pushing it to just 8-7 with big 12 plays. Jayhawks' NCAA Tournament bid may not be at risk yet – our Parenthetic scholar Chris Dovabertlian had KU as the number four seed before BYU's loss -But it's clear that this is a lost season that forces you to reevaluate everything when the self is over.
A 34-point loss tied the largest margin of defeat in his own era. BYU isn't necessarily a great team this year. We had a cougar as one of them The final four teams will enter the field Before facing Kansas. This is the type of opponent the Jayhawks should run out of gyms even on the road, but that's not the case anymore. In many ways, the game was a microcosm of the Kansas season. They smoked three times throughout the night, unable to reach the free throw line and had no way to return once BYU's onslaught began.
When Kansas descends, they feel like they can't come back. The team clearly appeared in the season and had spacing concerns by playing traditional bigs at Dickinson along with Adams' non-fire 4 and non-fire point guard at Harris. At a time when teams at every level of the game were trying to engineer five out intervals, he thought he could win with one or two shooters at a time.
The outcome was disastrous. Only 34.1% of Kansas' field goal attempts come from the 3-point range this year, ranking outside the top 300 in DI. Kenpom. They only make 33.9% of these shots. This ranks 167th in the country. Soon, the Jayhawks lose math matches every night.
The lack of shooting is not just a 3-point line to hurt. Kansas border players have no room to drive to such a crowded floor basket, which shows up in their awful free throw rates. Only six teams in DI reach the free throw line more frequently than Kansas on a per-person ownership basis, including Marist, Drexel, Colgate, Florida Gulf Coast, Canisius and Holy Cross. It's not the type of Kansas – Kansas! – Must maintain. Also, the Jayhawks didn't return to their essentially offensive glass.
With no access to the most efficient parts of the floor (threes, rim shots, free throw lines), the Jayhawks are destined to an area where opposing defenses are willing to acknowledge. Dickinson's post-ups have become less effective over time as they struggle with touch, even when they can establish internal locations. Harris has always had the issue of leaving the job as the team dares him to stuff paint and shoot from the outside, and they remain issues. Storr was brought to take offensive punches out of the bounce, but he was one of America's most disappointing transfers, and one track to shoot that doesn't suit how selfies want to play. I have a heart. Adams feels like he's clogging the floor with an attack and can't take advantage of his lob's catch and rim finishing skills as he has no space.
Perhaps the worst thing of all, the self, said after BYU's loss, that his team was just necessary to get away from each other.
Bill Self Game Post Game:
“I'm talking. We need to get away from each other. I'll tell you that point gap. I thought this would be a great opportunity to deepen the team's bond, but that's true. It wasn't.”
(via: @kusports)) pic.twitter.com/vya6yqiumi
– 68 fields (@thefieldof68) February 19, 2025
Self is one of the few holdovers among pre-era elite coaches. Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Jay Wright, and Tony Bennett have been hung for all years as rules have changed and could be replaced on a table in recent years. There was always argued that self did his best under the table, even if Kansas slapped his wrist and somehow erupted the barrel from the FBI investigation. These days, the reputation of the Kansas brand can be matched or surpassed by deep money bags at nil schools.
Have Kansas benefits gone? There is not at all. The self is still pulling in the coveted remittance at the top dollar, and Stort has reportedly earned $750,000 to $750k, making sure to cash it out. 2026 NBA Draft. He managed to get off like the best player ever coached.
But will the self actually continue coaching? At 62, he sees a completely different college basketball scene. Nir changed the sport completely. With the expansion of the meeting, he will have to fly to Utah, Houston and Arizona for league games. Given what legendary coaches are calling it a recent quitting, does that shock you if your self suddenly retires after this year?
This is not a way for the self to go outside. The opportunity to coach Peterson – potentially the best scoring guard prospect of all time (yes, I recognize the weight of those words) – is just too appealing. Dickinson is mercilessly disqualified, and the team no longer responds to him. Kansas still has a lot of money to throw the transfer. If they can persuade them to come back to Bidanga, they will have already made pick-and-roll combinations and defensive anchors.
This year wasn't going well. This is strange for Kansas basketball. If there's a reason the NBA doesn't want players, getting older isn't always good. The self can learn many lessons from how the team failed while being built around Dickinson, Harris and Adams. There aren't many simple fixes this season.
