Over 15 seasons at Kansas, Bill Self has repeatedly overcome one of the most difficult challenges that college head coaches face: replacing great players. From Wayne Simien to Sherron Collins to Ben McLemore to Frank Mason III and everyone in between, Self has regularly lost key offensive and defensive contributors, either to the NBA draft or graduation, while keeping the Jayhawks at the top of the Big 12.
This season figured to present a particularly difficult test of Self’s roster management ability. Not only were the Jayhawks waving farewell to three starters, including consensus National Player of the Year Mason and No.