Ken Davis

LAWRENCE, Kan. - Back in October, when Kansas was the popular preseason No. 1 pick, coach Bill Self was asked about the possibility of winning two national championships in three seasons. He answered the way most coaches would respond under similar circumstances.

“That team that we had two years ago would knock this team out right now as we speak,” Self said, referring to the 2007-08 national champions. “I do think there’s potential on this team but we’re a long ways away from being good enough to win a national championship — or even compete for it.”

You can’t blame Self for turning the question into motivational material for his squad at that time. But after Wednesday night’s hard-fought 82-65 victory over No. 5 Kansas State, which the Jayhawks managed to turn into a convincing victory in the final 10 minutes, it seemed reasonable to put the question to Self again.

With one regular season game remaining and postseason play creeping into everyone’s thoughts, No. 2 Kansas has done nothing to dispel the notion that it could win the 2010 championship trophy. Sure, there was that blip last Saturday on the road when Oklahoma State shot the lights out and roughed up the Jayhawks 85-77. Even so, the 16,300 who entered The Phog to pay tribute to senior point guard Sherrron Collins are seeing the world through Crimson and Blue shades right now.

What about Self? What was his view after the Jayhawks officially wrapped up their sixth consecutive Big 12 regular-season championship?

“I still think the same thing,” Self said. “We’ve narrowed the gap but that team in ’08 started the season off real good because we returned everybody off an Elite Eight team. This team was a different team. Even though we returned some key players, there still were some unanswered questions.

“We don’t move the ball as fluid as we did [in 2008]. We’re not as pleasing to watch from just a raw basketball standpoint. But we do somehow find a way to score points and keep other teams from scoring. This team’s pretty tough.”

Slideshow   BRACKETVille's Power 24 Ranking the top teams in college basketball based on performance and potential. NBCSports.com

It took a great deal of toughness for the Jayhawks to fight through the emotions of Senior Night. Collins, now involved in a record 125 victories at Kansas, was the only player who had to step to the microphone after the game and deliver a speech to the crowd.

Collins called Self late Tuesday night in a bit of a panic. He didn’t know what to say and wanted help from his coach. Collins got some last minute reassurance from his coach, even though his teammates had been bracing him for the ceremony for weeks.

“We have been talking about that for a while,” freshman Xavier Henry said. “We knew it was his last time running out of the tunnel and we let him know every time. We told him it was the last time he would be taped in the training room and the last time we would be eating dinner here. It was one of those things that we built up because we knew it was going to be so emotional for him and we just wanted to be behind him.”

Junior center Cole Aldrich heard the chants of “One More Year” throughout the game but with the NBA calling, everyone seemed to know this would be his last home game for Kansas too. Self addressed the chant, saying, “I’m all for that but don’t hold your breath on that one.”

Collins and Aldrich let the emotions get the best of them in the first half. Collins was 1-for-9 from the field and committed the only two KU turnovers. Aldrich had two points and only one rebound, yet Kansas led 45-38 at halftime thanks to Henry, who finished with 19 points, and Markieff Morris, who had 8 of his 10 points before the break.

“We went out with a bang,” Morris said.

On the other bench, the sound you heard was a whimper. Kansas State coach Frank Martin had called this the most important game in school history, which might have backfired. The Wildcats (24-5, 11-4 Big 12) lost a shot at sharing the Big 12 title with KU and now probably have no shot at gaining a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. After shooting 50 percent in the first half, K-State melted under pressure and shot 29 percent in the second.

Guard Jacob Pullen was superb with 20 points. His backcourt mate, Denis Clemente led K-State with 21 points, but the Wildcats are going to need better numbers from the frontcourt. Dominique Sutton, Curtis Kelly and Luis Colon are very physical inside but they tend to get in foul trouble.

K-State scored just five second-chance points despite 16 offensive rebounds. K-State won the battle of the boards 35-28. But KU’s bench outscored K-State 19-15. And those things frustrated Martin.

“It is tough twin with just four assists,” Martin said. “Kansas did a heck of a job guarding us. We weren’t real good defensively and we absolutely sucked on offense.”