Self Talks KU Basketball at Big 12 Media Day

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This week marked the Sprint Center hosting another Big 12 media day for Men’s Basketball.

Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks are once again the favorites to win the conference–which would be 12 straight–and Self has another team capable of not only securing a title, but taking it to the national stage by reaching the Final Four and potentially winning the national championship.

After winning gold in the World University Games this summer, Kansas has already proven to have championship-level players on the 2015-2016 squad.

When talking to the media, Self gave an inside look at how he envisions his team looking this season in terms of rotation.

Typically, Kansas is a team which tends to run 8-9 players deep with 5 of those players at the guard positions. This season, Self said he would like to see maybe a 4 guard rotation and going up to 5 deep in the low post.

With Perry Ellis, Landen Lucas, Jamari Traylor, Hunter Mickelson, and hopefully (pending NCAA clearance) freshman Cheick Diallo, KU has a multitude of options down low with a blend of experience, youth, and plenty of athleticism.

On the perimeter, Self is expecting the duo of Frank Mason III and Devonte Graham to have big seasons for the Jayhawks. In fact, the expectation is that they can provide the type of backcourt production reminiscent to the days of Mario Chalmers and Russell Robinson.

At the small forward spot, junior Wayne Selden, Jr., is coming off a tremendous summer performance at the World Games where he led the tournament in scoring, averaging just under 20 points per game.

With Selden, the Jayhawks will have almost unlimited athleticism and scoring at the three guard spots.

Where things will get tricky for Self and his staff is figuring out where to use players like Brannen Greene, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, and LeGerald Vick. If he were to use all three of those players, the rotation would approach the 11-12 number, which would likely be too high and not allow his players enough consistent minutes.

Self will likely choose to let those three battle it out for the remaining minutes behind his solid three and whichever player is practicing the best and providing the team with consistent production, will play. Like he has in the past, said player(s) will probably change from game to game.

Despite being the favorite, Self knows his team will have plenty of competition in the conference. Texas, a team which underachieves but regularly brings in talent, is now coached by Shaka Smart, who left Virginia Commonwealth to take the UT job this summer. Kansas fans are well aware of Smart, as one of his VCU teams knocked out a Final Four favorite in KU several years ago.

With Smart at Texas and a refreshed approach to a program which should never skip a beat in terms of its success, the Longhorns will undoubtedly find themselves competing for conference titles in the very near future.

Iowa State is another program still on the rise, although they may be considered an unknown right now after the departure of Fred Hoiberg as head coach, taking the Chicago Bulls job.

Hoiberg was labeled the savior of the program, and affectionately known as ‘The Mayor’ around Ames.

While many of the same players remain in the program, how they mesh under a new regime and whether they have the same focus and leadership is yet to be determined.

The Big 12 has always been considered a top-flight basketball conference, and 2015-16 should be no different.

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