Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self has been too busy preparing his team for the Jayhawks’ exhibition tour to Canada to watch much, if any, of the Athens Games on TV.

“I’ve not watched one possession live,” Self said of the U.S. Olympic basketball team, which lost its opener against Puerto Rico, then rebounded to claim narrow wins over Greece and Australia heading into today’s game against Lithuania.

“The world is definitely catching up,” added Self, who has read stories about his mentor Larry Brown’s U.S. team and caught some highlights on SportsCenter.

“We still have the best basketball in the world, but the style of international basketball favors the team with great skill level, and we have great athletes.”

Self believes the U.S. would fare better in international play if American college coaches were allowed to work with players more often as a way to improve fundamental skills.

NCAA rules prohibit coaches from having any on-court contact with their players during the summer, and limited contact at individual workouts during the offseason of the actual school year.

“We need to have college coaches coach their guys in the summer — all year long where we can have the same opportunities to be as skilled as their athletes do,” he said of foreigners, who “spend six hours a day in the gym (year round). We can’t work with our guys.”

Self said he wasn’t necessarily in favor of returning to the days when only college players represented the U.S. The U.S. started allowing pros in 1992, after the 1988 team placed third with collegians.

“I don’t know if we can go back to college players and be successful,” Self said. “But I think for college players, there’d be such a thrill to go, that they could put a team together, practice together and learn to be a team. These all-stars don’t know how to be a team.”

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KU director of basketball operations Danny Manning, who played on the ’88 team, agreed it would be tough to return to all college players.

“I do believe we could put together a college team and be very competitive and win the gold medal,” Manning said, “but I think it’ll take more than a month or two months to get them ready. It’d take half a year.”

KU senior Wayne Simien wasn’t positive a college team could defeat foreign squads that use NBA and European professional players.

“I don’t know about that, the world has stepped up their game as well,” Simien said. “We need to try to get our best over there and win.”

Several NBA players declined opportunities to play for the U.S. in the Athens Games. Simien never would reject an offer if one presented itself in the future.

“Being an Olympian is a great honor. Representing your country at the Games is huge. Hopefully one day I’ll have the opportunity to do that,” Simien said.

Self said he also would be honored to coach at the Games.

“I actually had the opportunity once to be an assistant (for USA basketball team) the summer I went to Illinois,” Self said of 2000. “I couldn’t do it with the time commitment, moving my family and recruiting.

“I’d be interested. I don’t know if I’ve paid my dues enough with USA Basketball to put myself in position for that to be possible in the foreseeable future. I think it’d be fun to be over there with those guys. I don’t think they would be having a lot of fun right now, but it’d be a great experience.”

• Livingston surfaces: Otis Livingston, the announcer working the Olympics for the Bravo network, is the same Livingston who played 27 games for KU during the 1987-88 season before getting suspended and eventually transferring to Idaho.

Livingston has worked as a sports anchor in New York since 1999. Prior to that, he worked as a sports anchor in Philadelphia and Rockford, Ill. Livingston, his wife and five children live in New Jersey.

• UBC player out for year: The top player in Canada, University of British Columbia’s Pasha Bains, will not play in KU’s exhibition game against the T-birds on Sept. 4 at UBC’s War Memorial Gym.

In fact, the 6-4 shooting guard, who led all of Canada in scoring the past two years, will miss the entire season because of torn ligaments in his left ankle.

Bains, 24, will begin a two-year Masters program in human kinetics and play next season. After that, he’ll likely play pro ball in Greece.