Updated 2:27 p.m. Monday, Dec. 30:
Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self has already indicated that the Big 12’s 20-game conference schedule, to which he had on several occasions expressed his opposition, might not stick around very long.
“Next year, if I’m not mistaken, we play, what is it, three teams twice?” Self said on Dec. 19. “Because we’re going from 20 to 18, is that what it is next year?”
That wouldn’t be a surprise given previous remarks by Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark even prior to the season that a 20-game slate wasn’t “set in stone.” In the immediate future, though, Self and his counterparts around the newly expanded 16-team league will have to reckon with the upcoming 10-week grind that features no open dates and starts earlier than usual.
And that’s after the previous 18-game slate, breaks and all, tired out the Jayhawks last season during their worst conference campaign of Self’s two-decade tenure.
He suggested he’ll need to be more judicious with practice time, incorporating more breaks for veterans like KJ Adams, Hunter Dickinson and Dajuan Harris Jr. who have logged plenty of miles over their four, five and six seasons in college basketball.
“I’ve got to become wiser in knowing that with no breaks and a 10-week season, that I can’t practice the guys the same way I have in the past,” Self said. “… I think that we need to take those things in consideration and probably do a much smarter job of being efficient on how much we keep them on their feet.”
Coming off a short holiday break that gave them time with their families between KU’s victory over Brown on Dec. 22 and its return to practice on Thursday, the Jayhawks are as rested as they’ll be at any point prior to the NCAA Tournament.
They will take what they’ve learned from a 9-2 nonconference performance, which Self said he’d grade at about a B-minus, into a league schedule that begins mere hours before the new year as KU hosts West Virginia on Tuesday afternoon.
“Definitely want to start off the right way,” guard Rylan Griffen said on Monday. “You can’t really lose no conference games on your home floor if we want to win the whole conference. That’s something that I learned the last two years (at Alabama) and that’s something that I know still applies in the Big 12 too.”
Added Self: “It’ll be a hard game, but one that I think the intensity will be turned up a notch or two just because it’s the start of conference play.”
No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks (9-2) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (9-2)
• Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, 1 p.m.
• Broadcast: ESPN+
• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KMXN FM 92.9)
KU is opening its conference slate with consecutive matchups with teams it went 0-1 against last year (next up is UCF on Sunday at Addition Financial Arena, site of a grim defeat for the Jayhawks last January), but this year’s WVU squad bears little resemblance to the last one, so little that no one who played in that game for the Mountaineers is still on their roster.
WVU’s two biggest moves of the offseason occurred practically simultaneously, as the Mountaineers hired head coach Darian DeVries away from Drake — where he consistently placed the Bulldogs among the top teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, including earning a pair of league-tournament titles — and in doing so also secured the services of his son Tucker DeVries, the reigning two-time conference player of the year.
Tucker DeVries, a wing, was shooting 47.3% from beyond the arc and averaging 14.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, highlighted by a 26-point showing in an overtime win over then-ranked Arizona, before WVU shut him down “indefinitely” on Dec. 10 due to an upper-body injury.
“I heard he got hurt, but to me, he’s on the team,” Griffen said. “Until I see visually you’re not playing, I’m going to just assume you’re playing.”
Whatever happens, the silver lining for the Mountaineers is that their highest-impact transfer this year is still fully healthy. That would be guard Javon Small.
“What stands out to me more than anything is that we didn’t get him,” Self said. “We recruited Javon, and I think he’s terrific. He’s got size, he’s 6-4, he’s strong, he can get it off the bounce, he can get it off the catch, he’s a point that obviously can score off the ball, he’s a good basketball player and he’s off to a great start.”
The native of South Bend, Indiana, is a familiar face not only because he could have gone to the Jayhawks before he signed with WVU but because he played against KU twice last year when he was at Oklahoma State. In those two matchups, both blowout wins for the Jayhawks, Small averaged five points on 20% shooting.
“We went back and watched the games last year at Oklahoma State to see how do we try to limit him and stuff like that,” Self said, “and to be honest I don’t think we did a great job on him. I think he missed some shots that he’s probably making those same shots this year.”
He’s been vastly more consistent since making the move to Morgantown, as he has scored in double digits every game, including a 31-point display on 9-for-18 shooting in a victory over Gonzaga (also in overtime) that helped put this year’s Mountaineers on the radar. Small currently leads the Big 12 in points per game at 19.7.
“We need to play well against a really good team that’s already beaten a team that basically handled us easily last year in the NCAA Tournament,” Self said.
WVU’s key frontcourt player, Illinois transfer Amani Hansberry, left the Mountaineers’ most recent game, a 67-46 victory over Division I newcomer Mercyhurst on Dec. 22, due to injury, but Darian DeVries said it wasn’t serious. Hansberry averages 10.6 points and 6.6 rebounds and moves up in the overall pecking order with Tucker DeVries absent.
The Jayhawks will see a member of their national-championship team return to Allen Fieldhouse, but without the usual fanfare accompanying such a reunion. Former KU guard Joe Yesufu, who began his career with DeVries at Drake, is playing for WVU this year after a brief stint at Washington State. The reserve has come off the bench in eight games.
“We all love Joe,” Self said. “Nobody wanted to see Joe leave. We understood why he did. I think he’s terrific. Joe’s a handful if he gets hot.”
UConn guard Stephon Castle (5) defends as Illinois forward Amani Hansberry (35) drives toward the basket during the second half of the Elite 8 college basketball game in the men’s NCAA Tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2024, in Boston.
Oklahoma State guard Javon Small during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Houston Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024, in Houston.
West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries addresses the media during the NCAA college Big 12 men’s basketball media day, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.
AP Photo/Steven Senne
Michael Wyke
AP Photo/Charlie Riedel