Bill Self plays the expectations game

Let's be honest: When you win your seventh regular-season conference title in seven years, and you do so five months after being selected by your league's coaches to finish third in your league, your league's coaches are going to get a little gun-shy with their predictions. They're not going to bet against you again.

If there's any reason to explain why this year's Kansas squad was selected as the preseason co-champions by the Big 12's coaches in advance of last week's league media day, that's why. Seven titles in a row? Who's going to wager against that?

But that default respect, flattering though it may be, has also made life a teensy bit more difficult for Kansas coach Bill Self. Self isn't totally sure his team is ready for that kind of accomplishment, and he's doing his best to tamp down expectations in advance:

“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.” [...] “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.”

“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.”

The problem is that two of the freshmen Johnson mentioned, including top recruit Ben McLemore, are ineligible to play for the Jayhawks this season. Neither McLemore or his counterpart, Jamari Traylor, would have radically changed the Jayhawks' chances, but they would have been nice additions to Self's rotation on the wing.

Without them, Kansas is still very talented. Thomas Robinson is a star forward waiting to happen, and Tyshawn Taylor is as battle-hardened as any guard in the country. But it's kind of funny: Last year, the Jayhawks returned more talent and more experience, and they were picked to finish third. This year, with a depleted lineup and a major hit to the recruiting class, they're picked to share the title. No wonder Self is trying to control his team's expectations. His Big 12 colleagues don't seem quite up to the task.

Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/37453/bill-self-plays-the-expectations-game

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