“I don’t know that I do,” Self said, asked what he likes about opening against Baylor (3 p.m. today) and Oklahoma (8 p.m. Monday) in Allen Fieldhouse.

“I think it’s better — for fairness, we should play all 18 games here,” he joked. “The reality is, if you start on the road and you win, you’re a leg up on everybody. You win at home, that’s just a push, because you’ve got to do that.”

KU — which has won 142 of its last 145 home games — is 94-5 at home in conference action during the Self years.

“A negative could be the students aren’t here (on semester break), but I still think we’ll have pretty good crowd support in these games. But it really doesn’t matter much either way,” Self said.

KU last opened league play with two home games during the 1997-98 season, when Roy Williams’ Jayhawks went 15-1.

“I think it’s a good start, especially for the young guys, to see what conference play is really about — to open up at home in a more comfortable state,” KU junior guard Wayne Selden Jr. said.

The two games in three days at home will be against ranked teams. Baylor (10-2) is No. 23 in the AP poll, while Oklahoma (11-0) is No. 3 in the land, a slot behind KU.

“Yes, it’s a challenge. But there are going to be weeks in the league where a lot of teams play two ranked teams. When you have five teams ranked every week or whatever it is, there’s a lot of times they are going to match up that way,” Self said.

“Thinking about what has happened in the past is something that you can think about and be happy about, but our focus and my focus is 100 percent what’s going to happen this year, and there’s obviously a ton of things that have to fall right for us to have to put ourselves in position to have another great league season,” he added.

If KU wins today and Oklahoma tops Iowa State in Norman, KU and OU could be Nos. 1 and 2 nationally entering Monday night’s contest.

If that matchup occurs, it would be the second time in history KU has played as the No. 1-ranked team vs. No. 2. The top-ranked Jayhawks fell to No. 2 Missouri, 77-71, on Feb. 13, 1990 in Allen.

That’s possible hype regarding Monday night’s game.

As far as today, KU hopes to extend its conference-opening win streak to 25 games overall, with 12 of those games in Allen. Last time KU lost a conference opener was to Oklahoma, 88-82, on Jan. 8, 1991 in Norman.

The Jayhawks, who have won 11 straight league titles, are 13-0 versus Baylor in Lawrence (12-0 in Allen) and 21-2 against BU in Big 12 regular-season play. KU, which leads the all-time series 24-4, has won five straight in the series and 10 of 12. Self is 16-3 vs. Baylor while at KU; Baylor coach Scott Drew is 3-16 vs. the Jayhawks.

The 2015-16 Bears are led by 6-foot-8 senior forward Taurean Prince, who averages 15.5 points a game off 41.6 percent shooting. Rico Gathers, a 6-8, 275-pound senior forward, averages 14.1 points and 11.0 rebounds, while 5-10 senior guard Lester Medford has dished 82 assists against 21 turnovers.

Gathers averaged 12.7 points and 11.7 boards in three losses to KU last season.

“Last year he was unreal, scored outside the lane, jumpers right-handed, left-handed, doing everything. But he’s going to get his, and he’s going to get rebounds and things like that. We just can’t let him get huge numbers,” Self said noting, “our big guy, whoever the big guy is, will draw that assignment.”

“He (Gathers) is a big, physical guy,” KU senior forward Hunter Mickelson said. “He gets a lot of rebounds. He’s definitely a force on offense, too. Strictly from the size standpoint, getting offensive rebounds, guarding him on the block, making sure he doesn’t get angles. He’s a big guy, and we’ll definitely have to work on being able to guard him.”

Medford leads an unselfish offensive attack that has accounted for 272 assists to 148 turnovers. KU has 222 assists to 137 turnovers.

“It’s unbelievable. Like in the last game against Texas Southern, they had 27 baskets and 23 assists. I mean, the numbers are staggering of what they are doing, and Lester is probably the biggest reason why that is. He’s off to a fabulous start,” Self said.

“We talk about Frank’s assist-to-turnover ratio (Mason has 68 assists, 16 turnovers). Medford the last five games is 42 to 6. That’s 7-to-1, and we talk about Frank being really good at 41/2-to-1. They haven’t skipped a beat with him playing there (point), at all,” Self added.

Baylor likes to confound opponents with its zone defense, though the Bears also play man-to-man. BU has allowed 63.3 points a game. with foes shooting 40.4 percent overall.

“Their zone, their size, their strength down low,” Selden said, asked to describe some challenges in facing Baylor. “Just trying to attack that zone can take different forms at times trying to get in there sometimes. UC Irvine had a good zone (in KU’s 78-53 victory on Tuesday). We really didn’t know what was going on at some points in the first half with their zone. I think that was good preparation because after a while we were able to attack it better,” Selden added.

Of Baylor’s zone, sophomore guard Devonté Graham said: “Baylor has length in its zone. It’s hard to attack it. We’ll watch on film how to attack the zone and hopefully come out with the ‘W.”’

In general, “We’ve been doing a good job so far,” Graham said of going 11-1 with one nonconference game remaining, Jan. 30 vs. Kentucky, “but we’ve got to keep it up. The intensity level has to go up a couple notches. Everybody will be coming for us, trying to end the streak (of 11 straight conference titles). We’ve got to pick it up and realize the competition is about to go up.”

Probable Starters

BAYLOR (10-2)

F — Rico Gathers (6-8, Sr.)

F — Taurean Prince (6-8, Sr.)

G — Lester Medford (5-10, Sr.)

G — Ishmail Wainright (6-5, Jr.)

G — Al Freeman (6-3, Soph.)

KANSAS (11-1)

F — Perry Ellis (6-8, Sr.)

F — Hunter Mickelson (6-10, Sr.)

G — Frank Mason III (5-11, Jr.)

G — Wayne Selden Jr. (6-5, Jr.)

G — Devonté Graham (6-2, Soph.)

Tipoff: 3 p.m. today, Allen Fieldhouse.

TV: CBS (WOW! channels 5, 13, 205, 213).

BAYLOR

0 — Jo Acuil, 7-0, 210, Jr., F, Melbourne, Australia.

1 — Wendell Mitchell, 6-3, 180, Fr., G, Rockdale, Texas.

2 — Rico Gathers, 6-8, 275, Sr., F, LaPlace, Louisiana.

3 — Jake Lindsey, 6-5, 190, Fr., G, Salt Lake City.

5 — Johnathan Motley, 6-9, 230, Soph., F, Houston.

11– Lester Medford, 5-10, 175, Sr., G, Tucson, Arizona.

13 — John Heard, 6-5, 210, Sr., F, Houston.

20 — Manu Lecomte, 5-11, 170, Jr, G, Brussels, Belgium.

21 — Taurean Prince, 6-8, 220, Sr., F, San Antonio.

22 — King McClure, 6-3, 200, Fr., G, Ovilla, Texas.

24 — Ishmail Wainright, 6-5, 230, Jr., G, Kansas City, Missouri.

25 — Al Freeman, 6-3, 200, Soph., G, Charlotte, North Carolina.

31 — Terry Maston, 6-7, 215, Soph., F, DeSoto, Texas.

33 — Austin Mills, 6-1, 175, Sr., G, Beverly Hills, California.

Head coach: Scott Drew. Assistants: Jerome Tang, Grant McCasland, Paul Mills.

KANSAS

0 — Frank Mason III, 5-11, 185, Jr., G, Petersburg, Virginia.

1 — Wayne Selden, Jr., 6-5, 230, Jr., G, Roxbury, Massachusetts.

2 — Lagerald Vick, 6-5, 175, Fr., G, Memphis.

4 — Devonté Graham, 6-2, 175, Soph., G, Raleigh, North Carolina.

5 — Evan Manning, 6-3, 170, Sr., G, Lawrence.

10 — Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, 6-8, 195, Soph., G, Cherkasy, Ukraine.

11 — Tyler Self, 6-2, 165, Jr., G, Lawrence.

13 — Cheick Diallo, 6-9, 220, Fr., F, Kayes, Mali, Africa.

14 — Brannen Greene, 6-7, 215, Jr., G, Juliette, Georgia.

15 — Carlton Bragg, Jr., 6-9, 220, Fr., F, Cleveland.

21 — Clay Young, 6-5, 205, Soph., F, Lansing.

22 — Dwight Coleby, 6-9, 240, Jr., F, Nassau, Bahamas.

31 — Jamari Traylor, 6-8, 220, Sr., F, Chicago.

33 — Landen Lucas, 6-10, 240, Jr., F, Portland, Oregon.

34 — Perry Ellis, 6-8, 225, Sr., F, Wichita.

42 — Hunter Mickelson, 6-10, 245, Sr., F, Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Head coach: Bill Self. Assistants: Kurtis Townsend, Norm Roberts, Jerrance Howard.