Nick KrugKansas basketball coach Bill Self admits to having thought highly of Big 12 Conference basketball plenty of times in years past.
But on Tuesday, with five Big 12 teams ranked in the Associated Press top-14 and No. 5 Kansas on the brink of opening conference play on Thursday night at No. 14 Texas Tech (6 p.m. on ESPN), the veteran KU coach went to the well one more time.
“We’ve said this multiple times, that this may be the best that I’ve seen the league,” Self said Tuesday during a Zoom call with reporters. “Well, I actually really mean it this time. I mean, this may be the best that I’ve seen our league. It’s a monster league.”
At the top, for now, is unbeaten, second-ranked Baylor (4-0), which Self called “the best team so far and the most impressive.”
After that, though, Self believes his Jayhawks (6-1), eighth-ranked West Virginia (6-1), No. 11 Texas (5-1) and Texas Tech (6-1) all will make a push for the Big 12 crown, while other teams such as Oklahoma State (6-0) and Oklahoma (3-1) play a role, as well.
“It’s going to be a great league (race), with more uncertainty than ever because of the COVID issues,” Self said. “So I don’t think anybody should ever get too comfortable.”
The Sooners actually have a leg up on everyone at the moment, having knocked off TCU last week to move to 1-0 in conference play.
Baylor and Texas were supposed to square off last Saturday, but COVID-19 forced the Bears to temporarily pause all basketball activities. The two schools and conference officials will work to reschedule that matchup, but Self admitted that he’s not overly optimistic about playing all 18 conference games that are currently on the Jayhawks’ schedule.
“I don’t think I ever thought we’d play 18,” Self said Tuesday. “You know, I think 14 or 15 would be a pretty good number.”
The Big 12 built into its schedule this season a week off between the end of the regular season in late February and the start of the conference tournament on March 10, with the idea being to use that week to play make-up games for those that get canceled along the way.
Self believes that’s a viable way to recover some of the cancelations that may be inevitable, but he’s also not expecting that to line up perfectly for all 10 teams in the Big 12 Conference either.
“I just hope we can get as many in as possible,” he said. “It’s not going to be anybody’s fault when we don’t. … It’s just a crapshoot. We hope we get lucky and remain as negative as we possibly can, and I know all coaches are hoping for the same thing.”
KU revealed tipoff times for the 16 remaining conference games on KU’s schedule on Thursday, with the exception of the four Big 12 games slated to be televised on ESPN+ and Big 12 Now.
The times range from everything to 11 a.m. versus Texas in Lawrence on Jan. 2 to 9 p.m. against TCU in Fort Worth, Texas, three days later and everything in between.
The tip times for KU’s four ESPN+ games — at Oklahoma State on Jan. 12, vs. Iowa State on Jan. 16, vs. TCU on Jan. 26 and vs. Kansas State on Feb. 2 — will be announced in the coming days and will be set by the home teams.
The only other unknowns on KU’s schedule as far as start times are a Jan. 9 game against Oklahoma on CBS and the SEC/Big 12 Challenge tilt at Tennessee on Jan. 30 on ESPN.
The tip time for the KU-OU game in early January likely will be scheduled around the NFL’s playoff matchups.
KU will be on ESPN’s Big Monday three times this season, with the Jan. 18 game at Baylor, the Feb. 8 game versus Oklahoma State and the Feb. 22 game at Texas all tipping off at 8 p.m. on ESPN’s showcase event.
Self said Tuesday that he did not anticipate any drastic changes to KU’s travel plans ahead of Thursday’s Big 12 opener at Texas Tech because of COVID-19.
“It’s the same schedule,” Self said, noting that the Jayhawks will leave sometime Wednesday afternoon and return to Lawrence right after Thursday’s game.
“We may leave a little later and eat here first so we don’t eat two meals there (on Wednesday), but that’s it,” he said.
