KU, rest of Big 12 gear for Challenge: “There’s not a deeper league in America.”

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self can envision a scenario in which all 10 teams in the Big 12 Conference earn bids to the 2018 NCAA Tournament.

“There’s not a deeper league in America. You could make a case if certain teams get hot in our league, all 10 have a legitimate shot. All 10 do,” Self, Kansas’ 15th-year coach, insisted this week. “I think eight out 10 is realistic. I’d like to say 10 out of 10, but I don’t know if that is realistic.”

Self’s case for 10 figures to be strengthened or weakened considerably Saturday — the day all 10 Big 12 schools meet 10 of the 14 SEC schools in what’s known as the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

His No. 5-ranked Jayhawks (16-4, 6-2 Big 12) meet Texas A&M (13-7, 2-6 SEC) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse as one of the marquee matchups shown on ESPN. The other games are: Baylor at Florida, Texas Tech at South Carolina, Georgia at Kansas State, Mississippi at Texas, Oklahoma at Alabama, Tennessee at Iowa State, TCU at Vanderbilt, Oklahoma State at Arkansas and Kentucky at West Virginia.

“The SEC is obviously strong,” Self said of a conference that went 5-5 with the Big 12 in the Challenge last season. “It’s on a serious uptick.”

The Big 12 went 7-3 in both 2013-14 and 2015-16 and 6-4 in 2014-15 with KU beating Kentucky twice and splitting a pair of games with Florida.

“You’ve got teams such as Alabama, Auburn that haven’t been in the (NCAA) Tournament of late that are making a dent. Then there are the holdovers in there, including Arkansas. It’s a terrific league. It should be a great Challenge,” Self said.

Self’s concern is Texas A&M.

The Aggies, who have already defeated West Virginia and Oklahoma State of the Big 12 this season, start three players 6-9 or taller. Tyler Davis, a 6-10 junior, averages 14.3 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, while 6-10 sophomore Robert Williams averages 10.4 points and 9.9 boards per game and 6-9 junior D.J. Hogg 12.3 points and 6.1 boards per game. Off the bench, 6-10 senior Tonny Trocha-Morelos averages 4.8 rebounds per game, and 6-7 freshman Savion Flagg 4.4 boards.

“I do think they present challenges,” Self said, “because what they do great is not what we do really well. They are big. They’ve got depth up front. They crash the glass. Obviously we are not big, don’t have much depth, and we are not a great rebounding team to date.”

For the year, the Aggies outrebound opponents 848 to 694. Texas A&M is ranked third nationally in total rebounds per game (42.4), fifth in defensive rebounds per game (29.75) and 14th in rebound margin (+7.7). A&M has been outrebounded in just three games.

KU, meanwhile, outrebounds its opponents 728 to 717 and grabs 36.4 boards per contest. KU has outrebounded its opponents in just six of 20 games. KU has been outboarded in all eight of its league contests.

“I like their roster and talent level, and certainly their size is a concern,” Self added of the Aggies.

KU senior guard Svi Mykhailiuk remains confident despite the fact A&M appears to have a great size advantage against KU’s four-guard, one-big lineup.

“I would say they are pretty tall,” Mykhailiuk said. We are probably going to be faster, so speed beats size every time, every day. We’ve just got to focus on our stuff, know what we are doing, pay a lot of attention to detail.”

This Challenge game follows KU’s loss Tuesday at Oklahoma and precedes a Big Monday battle at Kansas State.

“We’ll play the game to win just like everybody in this Challenge is going to play the game to win,” Self said. “We’ll play it just like we would if we were playing Oklahoma or K-State. And they’ll do the same thing.

“The thing about it is at the end of the day you don’t want, regardless of what happens in this particular game, to impact what happens after that, whether it be win a big game, you kind of get careless or complacent, or if you lose it, now does that affect the next one? You don’t do that because this game is important, but it’s not as important as the league race. And I’m sure there’s 19 other coaches that are playing in the Challenge that would tell you the exact same thing.”

Last year, KU followed a 79-73 victory over Kentucky with a win over Baylor. In 2015-16, KU followed a 90-84 win over Kentucky with 16 straight victories. In 2013-14 and 2014-15, the games against Florida did not interrupt the Big 12 schedule and were played in December, which would be a better time for the Challenge, Self said.

“I don’t want to say we (Big 12 coaches) take as much pride in this as we maybe would if it was in December,” Self said.

“Everybody, SEC coaches, Big 12 coaches are focused on our league season. Stepping outside of league at this time, although it’s great for our league from an exposure standpoint, I don’t know the coaches are crazy about it. In order to make a dent in what the appearance of your league is, it’s what you do nonconference. This adds up the same way the December games add up. It’s important. I don’t know if it’s a tell-all. You want to do well for the league. I don’t know if it’s made out to be a little bigger from that standpoint than what it actually is.

“I also think it gives everybody a chance to improve their NCAA chances because to put another quality win in the bag, or improve your seed line, obviously a big win could certainly impact that.”

Ten teams in the Big 12 could benefit greatly from a ‘W’ on Saturday, he surmised.

“Let’s say a team that has maybe struggled with the league record so far can get a big Challenge win, then get to 8-10 or 9-9 in our league, I think it’d be very difficult to keep them out of the (NCAA) Tournament,” Self stated.

This story was originally published January 26, 2018 at 6:29 PM with the headline "KU, rest of Big 12 gear for Challenge: “There’s not a deeper league in America.”."