Could KU basketball repeat as national champions? What Bill Self said on the topic

Trending upward after winning five games in a row, jumping to No. 3 in the Associated Press Top 25 and earning a spot on the 1-line in last Saturday’s late-season NCAA bracket preview, Kansas men’s basketball is being mentioned in some circles as a possible repeat national champion.

The Florida Gators won back-to-back NCAA hoops titles in 2006 and ’07. No men’s college basketball team in America has accomplished the repeat feat since.

“You brought up something I haven’t thought about in months: ... us being defending national champs. I don’t think like that,” KU coach Bill Self said in response to a reporter’s question at Thursday’s news conference held in advance of Saturday’s KU-West Virginia game.

“I probably thought I would (think like that) going into the season,” Self added. “Once the season starts, that was totally irrelevant. We asked our guys — we even said it to the media — that it’s time to move forward and I think our guys have done a pretty good job moving forward knowing this is no different from last year.”

Yet at 23-5 overall and 11-4 in the Big 12 with a nation’s-best 14 Quad 1 victories, KU has entered the final three games of the Big 12 regular season in prime position for a possible repeat.

“We’re the only team that actually has a chance to do it this year,” Self said with a smile, “but I don’t think there’s been very many teams that won it and the next year put themselves in position to be talked about in a way that maybe we’re getting talked about now. Still it’s just talk, It doesn’t mean anything.”

Teams that have failed to repeat since Florida won it all in 2006 and ’07: Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, UConn, Kentucky, Louisville, UConn again, Duke again, Villanova, UNC again, Villanova again, Virginia and Baylor.

“I hope our best ball is still ahead of us,” Self said Thursday. “To be quite honest with you I don’t think I envisioned that at the end of the year we would control our own destiny on what actually happens beginning in the postseason, whether it’d be capturing the league (title) or whatnot.

“Controlling your own destiny also means you probably have to win out. Texas (tied with KU atop the Big 12) could say the same thing as well. But capturing the league and being a real high seed in the tournament is all in front of us if we do what we set out to do. You don’t need help from somebody else to do it if you take care of your own business. There’s been a lot of years where we needed some help to fall our way to get where we wanted to go. That still may well be the case, but the reality of it is we put ourselves in a good position.”

Self said Saturday’s home game against West Virginia — 3 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse — and Tuesday’s home game versus Texas Tech are huge heading into the season finale at Texas a week from Saturday.

“You can make a case we’ve had a lot of big games, but they are the two biggest games we’ve played at home to date because of obviously the ramifications of what could possibly be if we are able to take care of business and what would happen if we don’t,” Self said. “They are huge games — both hard games and two teams we haven’t played in a long time.”

KU beat West Virginia 76-62 on Jan. 7 in Morgantown, West Virginia, and defeated Texas Tech 75-72 on Jan. 3 in Lubbock, Texas.

No matter what happens in the next three games, Self has seen enough to give his team high marks for the 2022-23 campaign.

“I’m sure that this team to me will always be thought of as a team that maximized its talent about as well as any we’ve had up until this point,” Self said. “They love to compete and (consistently) gave us the best chance to win ... because they were coachable and tried real hard. The intangibles that I would think about this team would be in that A to A-plus type range because I’ve really enjoyed this team a lot.”

Injury, illness report

Junior guard Joseph Yesufu missed two days of practice this week because of illness. However he did return to practice on Thursday.

Self updated the status of Zach Clemence (knee) and Zuby Ejiofor (foot): “Zach can play but he’s not 100%. Zuby can play. He’s closer to 100% than Zach but not 100%” Self said. “This time of year I don’t know if anybody’s 100% healthy. We’re all right.”

Redshirt freshman guard Kyle Cuffe (knee) will take a medical redshirt for the season while senior forward Cam Martin (shoulder) likely will take a medical redshirt, Self said Thursday.

“I would think so,” Self said of Martin taking a medical redshirt. “He’s for sure not 100%. I’m sure he’ll apply for one if in fact he can’t come back. He had to take a couple of days off last week or whatever because his shoulder was so sore. They told him it would take three to four months to get it back to where it should be. We’re not to that point.”

Of Cuffe, KU’s coach said: “He’s not 100% yet. It’s an easy decision to medically redshirt him in large part because he is not healthy enough (that) he could be his best out there for us.”

Self was asked if Cuffe, who redshirted last year, would have contributed in games this season had he been healthy.

“He is talented, a terrific athlete. He has a chance to be a really nice player,” Self said, “but if you are doing a depth chart I wouldn’t put him above the guys who are playing right now.”

He noted on Tuesday’s Hawk Talk radio show: “Kyle’s attitude is a 12 when it comes to him trying to come back and be in a situation to practice even though he is going to redshirt and not play in games. He probably won’t be 100% for two or three months but is close enough to probably help us in practice some. I’m proud of him. He knows we respect his mindset in how he’s come back from injury.”