Editor’s note: This is the last in a series of four columns in which Journal-World assistant sports editor Gary Bedore answers questions about Kansas University men’s basketball.

Q: Gary, I have not heard or been able to figure out what the Jayhawks will do with a whole team of all-star small forwards. How is this going to work? What will the starting lineup be? Who will be benched: J.R. Giddens, Julian Wright, or Micah Downs? If they all play, someone will have to play post. Will this be Wright or Downs? I’ve heard that Wright doesn’t want to be a full time post man. I’d like to hear your take on how this will work.

A: Well, I think coach Bill Self would still like to play two big guys if possible, but is open to anything. He says the team will pressure — not press, but pressure — more next year.

I’d assume the lineup would be: Mario Chalmers, Wright, Giddens, Moody and Giles. But it could be Chalmers, Wright, Giddens, Russell Robinson and C.J. Giles, or something like that. I’m sure the coaches will do a lot of brainstorming this summer, but Bill could always go small.

What about a lineup of Chalmers, Wright, Downs, Giddens and Robinson? Think about that one for a while.

Q: In light of the young team we will have next year, do you believe Christian Moody will play as many minutes next year as he did this year?

A: I think Christian will have to come to camp and earn his minutes. I don’t think a starting spot will be given to him. There’s a lot of talent on this team, and Bill might elect to go with the other guys. I do think it’s all up to Christian. If he’s as good or a bit better than last year, he might earn similar minutes.

He definitely is reliable and more athletic than you think. And now he’s a scholarship player, no longer the best walk-on in history as stated by Bill Packer. I’m not downgrading Christian; I just don’t think his starting spot is guaranteed, not with all this young talent on board.

Q: Just how good is incoming freshman Mario Chalmers?

A: He is darn good. He’s got to be one of the best incoming freshmen point guards in the U.S., and KU needs one with Miles graduating.

When Chris Piper played for KU, I don’t remember him for being a scorer. But rather he was always assigned the other team’s top scorer to stop. Am I right or wrong? Also did he ever score 20 points in a game. I can’t remember him scoring much more than 10.

Yes, Piper was a good defender and a great role player. He was more athletic than he was given credit for. I do not think he ever scored 20. I’ll ask him the next time I see him and get back to you, but I can almost guarantee he never scored 20. He was the kind of player every team needs — a real team player who could play defense, pass the ball and score when necessary.

Q: After an upsetting loss to Bucknell in the first round it makes me wonder if Kansas will make it back to the tourney next year. Is the basketball program going downhill? Andy Katz from ESPN made predictions on how the rankings will start out next season and KU was not in the top 25. Is our basketball program in trouble losing four seniors and Alex Galindo who I thought would be a big contributor next season.

A: I wouldn’t say the program is in trouble. I would say anything’s possible in regards to earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament. KU could stay in the top 25 all season and garner a 4 or 5 seed in the NCAAs, or indeed the Jayhawks could struggle. If the team struggles too much, yes, of course, it could miss the tourney and have to play in the dreaded NIT.

I don’t expect KU to miss the NCAA Tournament, but even good teams sometimes finish two games under .500 in this tough league.

The Jayhawks are going to have to buy into the team concept right away. It’s going to take a united front for this team to conquer the field in Maui and win at Georgia Tech and St. Joe’s and take care of Kentucky at home and Cal in Kemper.

The fans are going to need an entirely different attitude next year also — and bring their A-game to the fieldhouse every night. The young Jayhawks are going to need support from the fans, not fans all scared the team might lose or even worse, ready to boo if J.R. bricks 10 threes in 11 tries.

I’ll say it again. It’s going to take a united front.

I think KU should be ranked about 18th to start the season. Then it’s up to the Jayhawks: They can be the country’s surprise team if the young talent emerges quickly, or they could flop and finish two to four games under .500 in the league and not make the NCAAs.

We shall see.

The pre pre-season polls are starting to appear and to no surprise, KU is nowhere to be found in the top 25. But it’s never too early to begin speculating. Who do you think will be next years starters? Seems like Moody and Giddens are locks. Do you think one or two freshmen (Chalmers and/or Wright) have the stuff to start right away?

If I had to predict it’d be Chalmers, Wright, Moody, Giddens and Giles. But it could be anybody, really. Heck, Jeff Hawkins might start, and I’m being serious. Yes, I think any of the three freshmen have the talent to start. If they impress and emerge in the preseason, youneverknow.

Q: Hi Gary, I’m a little surprised at the lack of a sendoff for the seniors this season. In fact, I felt this particular Jayhawk squad overachieved considering the lack of consistent support from the underclassmen.

A: The awards ceremony attendance surprised me a bit. It was a small crowd, about 300 or so, though some insist there were closer to 500, maybe even more than that, there. Who knows? Nobody seemed to be willing to make an estimate, so the media went ahead an estimated the crowd totals. Nobody counted heads since it was free.

Some say it wasn’t promoted well enough. I say phooey to that. KU basketball doesn’t need to be promoted. We ran an item in the paper three weeks before the ceremony and a big preview the day of the ceremony. Believe me, that’s normally enough to get the word out.

KU’s camps never need to be promoted because everybody knows Self has two sessions of camp every summer, and fans gobble up all available camp slots.

To tell you the truth, it was a beautiful spring evening, and I even remarked walking in, “I wonder how many people will be dumb enough to come to this ceremony tonight?”

By that I meant, who would give up a beautiful evening to do anything outside rather than come to an indoor event which basically consisted of things only the players and their family members are interested in?

So it’s not a big deal only 300 showed. The players still feel the love from all the sellouts, and maybe some fans actually had fun spending a spring evening with their families instead of attending a dull awards ceremony. More power to ’em.