Bill Self hints that Kansas's problems aren't just on the court

NIL has 100% changed the sport of college basketball. Everyone is going to have an opinion on whether it is a good or a bad change but outside of the players getting paid to play and have a living wage, the rest of it is a mess. NIL has made high school recruiting almost obsolete for some coaches; many of the big-name coaches in big programs are now having to recruit using the transfer portal. Those players will only commit to the school if given promises of enough money or enough endorsements to make it worth their while. Free Agency at its finest.

This new era of college basketball has seen many of the game's top coaches like Tony Bennett retiring and Leonard Hamilton resign. The Hamilton situation is a little bit different as he failed to pay some NIL money to players. NIL and the transfer portal have forced teams to build a roster based on talent and how much money they can pay players, chemistry and how the pieces fit together is secondary now. Teams used to be built based on talent, but also on how the pieces fit together and how kids would accept their roles. That is all gone now.

If you have been paying attention over the last month of the year, you would notice that teams like North Carolina, Gonzaga and UConn have been struggling. Those teams have noticeable chemistry problems that are not going to be easily fixed. Those teams also have some key transfers that were supposed to help the team but have had the opposite affect on some teams and have caused chemistry issues for some of the biggest programs in the country. Then there is the Kansas Jayhawks.

The most prestigious basketball program in history is having massive amounts of chemistry problems and is losing games that they wouldn’t normally lose. College basketball fans will all agree that the Jayhawks never had a problem getting talent from the high school ranks or from the transfer portal because wearing Kansas across your chest and playing for the most prestigious program just isn’t enough anymore. That now must come with a paycheck. That paycheck gets you the ability to wear the Kansas across your chest, but it doesn’t mean as much now.

The Jayhawks just finished up their trip to Utah, where they lost both games. One to a Utah Utes team that should never have been in a game with Kansas. The Jayhawks looked lost all night long, as they have over the last month. Even with the struggles that have been pointed out by anyone who would listen, Kansas still earned a top 16 seed in the NCAA tournament reveal on Saturday before the Utah game. That should have been some incentive to play and improve your seeding.

Well, the Kansas players didn’t see it that way. Last night in the game in Provo against the BYU Cougars I saw a Kansas team that I never thought I would see. Kansas was disinterested, didn’t play as a team, and gave up. They lost by 34 points, yes, the Kansas Jayhawks lost by 34 points to an unranked team. It was the largest defeat coach Self has ever taken in the regular season. The only other time he lost by this many points was to USC in the NCAA tournament. Kansas has now lost three straight games to unranked teams and 7 overall this season. The game aside it was the comments made by Coach Self in his postgame press conference that really shocked everyone.

Coach Self said, “I’m talked out. We need to get away from each other, I’ll tell you that point blank. I thought this would be a great opportunity to do some team bonding. But it hasn’t been.” Coach Self said the silent part out loud, anyone who watched that game could tell this is what was happening. This has been happening at Kansas for most of the year.

Kansas has always had a ton of talent, from a lot of different backgrounds, and they have had some chemistry issues before that have ultimately been ironed out because playing for Kansas and playing for National Championships was always the most important thing. So why is the chemistry problem starting to matter?

It matters because fans and administrations start expecting players to act like paid players, and the players who are paid more are expected to do more, and the players who are paid less are expected to let the higher -paid players do more and deal with it. It creates a lot of unneeded stress on the players and on the coaches to make sure you keep everyone happy, or they will cry foul about their money or lack thereof.

This season has taken a toll on some of the game's best coaches. Bill Self may be considering retirement, Dan Hurley is flying off the handle far more than he ever has, and Mark Few has moments where he looks lost because his team isn’t responding. These are also teams who have never experienced this before and don’t know how to deal with it. NIL is a problem that everyone will eventually work through, but how do you make sure you keep everyone happy in the NIL era?  The old tactics don’t work anymore, playing for Kansas isn’t enough anymore. Coach Self is exasperated, and it does look like Kansas has checked out. Fill out your brackets accordingly!