Bill Self usually thinks coaches have a better idea of what's going on in college basketball than the media.
After all, the coaches are the ones who spend the summer recruiting. They're the ones who watch hours of game film, sweat inside hot gyms during early morning practices and scream until their voice gives out on the sideline during a crucial conference game.
Then the Big 12 preseason rankings came out, the ones that are voted on by the coaches, and for the first time in quite a while Self wasn't so sure they knew what they were talking about.
The Jayhawks were made the co-favorites to win their eighth consecutive league championship along with Texas A&M, despite losing the Morris twins, Josh Selby, Tyrel Reed and a bunch of other contributors from last season's team. Incidentally, the coaches picked that team to finish third in the league last year, and it went 14-2 in the conference and 35-3 overall.
''I'm surprised,'' Self said. ''You know, I always say the coaches know more than the media. I'm not sure that's the case in our league right now.''
Marcus and Markieff Morris were both first-round draft picks after their junior seasons, though the NBA lockout is preventing them from getting a start on their pro careers. Selby left after his freshman season, and Reed joined Brady Morningstar and Mario Little as graduates.
All told, Kansas lost nearly three-quarters of its scoring and two-thirds of its rebounding.
Self knew that he would have to reload, and he landed another highly regarded recruiting class, but the NCAA has already whittled it down to just three players.
Six-foot-8 forward Braeden Anderson was not approved to play because of the Big 12's policy on partial qualifiers, and five-star shooting guard Ben McLemore and forward Jamari Traylor were deemed ineligible because of questions surrounding their transcripts.
That left the Jayhawks short on depth before practice had even begun.
''We've kind of gone into the season with tempered expectations, to be honest with you, and I've tried to do that with our fans a little bit,'' Self said. ''It's fine. We're kind of used to being in the situation where people expect us to be decent, and we won't shy away from that.''
That's what happens when you win seven straight Big 12 titles.
''It's crazy, you know, because we have a group that just left like last year, basically our starting five and important role players off the bench,'' junior guard Elijah Johnson said. ''And you still say we're going to win? With a team half full of freshmen? That says a lot.''
That's not to say the Jayhawks don't have plenty of firepower coming back.
Thomas Robinson showed signs last year that he could be the next great big man at Kansas, following in the footsteps of Cole Aldrich and others before him. Robinson toiled in the shadows of the Morris twins last season, but he knows that won't be possible anymore.
''It's my turn to step up and produce more for my team,'' he said. ''It's obvious that I'll see more double teams. I can't just sneak on the floor and score points without teams noticing me.''
Nor can Tyshawn Taylor, who has overcome a rocky start to his college career to become one of the Jayhawks' best players and a potential NBA lottery pick.
Taylor missed several weeks with a dislocated thumb his sophomore season after getting into a fight with members of the football team. He was also suspended for violating team rules last season, but played some of his best basketball after he was reinstated, and he enters his senior season as a more mature player and the team's undisputed leader.
''I definitely had good leaders in the past,'' Taylor said. ''I've learned and taken bits and pieces from some really great players. You just have to be vocal and learn how to talk to people - that's big. You can't just scream at everybody and get mad when things aren't right. You have to talk to people, and you have to be able to lead by example.
''It's something that I've been trying to do a lot.''
Sitting on a stool inside Allen Fieldhouse, Taylor looked to the rafters, at all the banners that honor the great teams and players that came before him. Maybe, he thought, it's not such a stretch that Kansas is favored to win another Big 12 title.
''I mean, it's a compliment,'' Taylor said. ''We're going to take that and run with it.''
