KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Eleven straight conference championships and a national title has understandably made Kansas coach Bill Self secure enough to acknowledge when he’s made a mistake.
That was the case when he looked back on last season.
The Jayhawks headed into the Big 12 tournament unsure of whether they would have Joel Embiid, one of the nation’s premiere post players, because of a lingering foot injury. Self held out hope that the star freshman would be ready, so he built his plan around that assumption.
Embiid never stepped on the court again for the Jayhawks, who wound up losing to Iowa State in the Big 12 semifinals, then fell to Stanford the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.
That’s why Self is taking a different tact as the top-seeded Jayhawks prepare to open the Big 12 tournament Thursday afternoon at the Sprint Center.
Freshman forward Cliff Alexander missed the last few games of the regular season amid NCAA concerns about his eligibility. Self is again holding out hope that he’ll have his best interior defender will be available, but this time he’s not counting on it.
He is counting on having the rest of his players back — leading scorer Perry Ellis from a knee injury, point guard Frank Mason III from a sore ankle and Brannen Greene from a suspension.
The Big 12 tournament begins Wednesday night when eighth-seeded Kansas State faces No. 9 seed TCU, and seventh-seeded Texas plays No. 10 seed Texas Tech in the nightcap.
The Jayhawks will face the winner of the opener in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Second-seeded Iowa State gets the winner of Game 2.
Baylor faces West Virginia and Oklahoma takes on Oklahoma State in the two quarterfinals that are already set.
Texas and Oklahoma State may have the most riding on things this week.
The Longhorns, once ranked in the top five nationally, went through plenty of struggles this season.
But they’ve been playing better down the stretch, and now a couple of wins in Kansas City could be enough to push them off the bubble and into the NCAA tournament.
The Cowboys also are sitting precariously on the bubble.
Nine teams in the Big 12 have been ranked in the Top 25 in the last calendar year.