Kansas Tightening Its Rotation Could Be Spark It Needs to Reach Full Potential

LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Kansas Jayhawks have been trying to find themselves over the last week. Like college graduates driving cross country in search of the meaning of life while their parents sit at home and just pray they find jobs.

Over the last few days, the Jayhawks have had a team meeting, and the four captains (Perry Ellis, Frank Mason, Wayne Selden Jr. and Devonte' Graham) also met with head coach Bill Self to figure out what was up with the once-No. 1 team in the nation getting run off the floor by an Oklahoma State squad whose March aspirations, at best, could be an invite to the CBI.

These are the kinds of things teams in a major funk do. 

What happened Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse in a 76-67 win over Texas was telling of how third-ranked Kansas can get right and who might not be part of those plans.

At the center of it all is trust, and Self made it clear with his tight rotation who he trusts and who he doesn't.

Kansas freshman Cheick Diallo and sophomore Svi Mykhailiuk, the two players you can find in the first round of 2017 mock drafts, didn't see the floor.

"Landen [Lucas] gave us a better chance to win," Self said. "Visiting with the guys and who trusts who, playing [Diallo] for three minutes here and then pulling him out, and then, does he go back in again? I think Cheick is happier now than if he had played three minutes and then not gone back in. Like I said, we just wanted to win the game." 

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Diallo's absence, in particular, is something Self had to know would become a headline, and you better believe other schools will use it against Kansas in recruiting—coincidentally, the Jayhawks had two big-time recruits in the house, 2016 wing Josh Jackson and 2017 big man DeAndre Ayton.

They watched the MVP of the McDonald's All-American Game fail to play one minute in a conference tilt based on a coach's decision.

This will drive fans crazy and make some question KU's ability to develop 5-star big men—a ridiculous assertion, considering the school's success with getting big men to the NBA—but it's one that could come up with Diallo getting yo-yoed in and out of the rotation on top of Cliff Alexander's struggles last year.

Self doesn't trust Diallo, and he has his reasons. A big one is Diallo's struggles with comprehending the KU playbook, but that's not all. The decision on which guys to play also had a lot to do with the feedback Self received from his four captains.

You could spin it like this: For the Jayhawks to have their best shot at getting to a Final Four or winning a national title, they need Diallo. His abilities, mainly his shot-blocking, would help. But this team's success rides on those four captains, who scored 72 of the squad's 76 points and played a combined 148 minutes Saturday.

When Kansas climbed to No. 1 in the nation earlier this season, it did so on the backs of its captains' playmaking, three-point shooting and team defense.

When the Jayhawks are off their game—and they hadn't been right since the triple-overtime win against Oklahoma on Jan. 4—they aren't cohesive on either end. You can see a lack of trust when KU's guards hesitate to make an extra pass.

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Defensively, during the slump, KU's guards were getting burned off the dribble like they were stuck in mud. 

Just as troubling were the poor rotations and lack of trust. 

"We've talked about a lot of things we can do better on tape, but I think it's more between our ears," Self said. "It's not in our heart, though, but between our ears. You have a kid say, 'Well, if I guard it the way you say, how do I know somebody behind me is going to do what he's supposed to do because he didn't do it last time?'

"Things like that, guys get hesitant, and not selfish play but selfish thoughts. It's not a big deal, but know you've got to trust."

Texas feasted on KU's deficiencies early Saturday and jumped out to a 17-5 lead. The Jayhawks showed some resolve to make it a game by halftime, trailing by only five at the break. 

Then, finally, the Jayhawks saw the light again in the second half. They trusted their offense and made extra passes. Mason was driving and dishing again. Selden was making threes again—he made 4-of-8 and scored 19 points to break out of a mini-funk. Graham was also shooting with confidence (3-of-6 from three) and setting up teammates.

And those players' made shots opened things up for Ellis to go to work in space, as he scored a game-high 26 points. 

"The thing that I was most worried about was the most simple thing they do, which was a high pick-and-pop," Texas coach Shaka Smart said. "The guards are good so you have to give them attention, and if you don't, they'll turn the corner and lay it up. But when you do, they throw it back to [Ellis] and now he has some space, and no matter how we guarded it, Kansas had an answer." 

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Defensively, the Jayhawks also found the answers. The wide-open driving lanes started to close, they figured out how to guard a pick-and-roll—something they got abused on during their slump—and most importantly, the Jayhawks rotated on D and trusted their teammates to have their backs.

When it all comes together like that, the Jayhawks look like one of the best teams in the nation in what's a down year as far as the country's elites go.

This team is built on veterans who should have a pretty good idea of what Self wants, and it can shoot the lights out when it's going right. But when the Jayhawks get away from what they do best, they can't just overwhelm opponents with pros.

"I don't think our talent level individually is as good that when teams do certain things and make the ball stick or expose us in certain things, we're not as equipped to recover, like we need ball movement," Self said. "We need a lot of things to go right and for the team to play together to really look good, and I don't think we always do that. Hopefully we'll get better at that, because when we do play together, we do look really good."

So, are the Jayhawks right again?

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It's too soon to say, just like it was premature to write them off after they lost at Oklahoma State.

Self's championship team in 2008 also lost two out of three at one point, including one on the road to a mediocre Oklahoma State squad.

That group also followed that loss with a team meeting.

Chances are Papa Self pulled some strings to make that happen.

"If the players met, and I'm sure they did, it was probably because 'I can't believe you guys care so much and haven't even met yet,'" Self said. "It was probably encouraged for them to do so." 

If this season turns special in March and April, this will be one of those coming-of-age moments the Jayhawks will surely look back to. 

When they stopped caring about who played. Just that they play the right way. 

C.J. Moore covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @CJMooreBR.