Lahaina, Hawaii ? If you can’t daydream on a Maui beach, serenaded by crashing waves as the sun settles into the Pacific for its nightly swim, well then just when can you?

So close your eyes and join me on the beach for a look into a future where Micah Downs is playing enough defense to get significant minutes and Darnell Jackson and Rod Stewart are eligible.

And now ask yourself, given those parameters, just where Bill Self’s third Kansas University basketball team falls short. Go ahead, take a few minutes to ponder it, then continue reading.

Still thinking, aren’t you?

The answer is nowhere. If you said experience, that doesn’t count. It’s too general an answer. Specifically, where does this roster fall short?

With Downs back from an ankle injury that kept him out of KU’s season opener, three-point shooting no longer is a weakness. The Jayhawks made two of 13 against Idaho State. Give Downs the five three-point shots that Jeremy Case and Stephen Vinson combined to take without making one, figure Downs will be a 40-percent shooter from three, and that 2-for-13 is 4-for-13. Still not great, but an acceptable adjusted field-goal percentage of 46.

What is adjusted field-goal percentage? Glad you asked. Unlike field goal percentage, the most archaic statistic in all of sports, adjusted field goal percentage does not assign equal value to three-point and two-point field goals. The scoreboard doesn’t assign equal value to them, so why should a statistic that supposedly reflects shooting efficiency? A three-point field goal is worth 11â2 times as much as a two-point field goal, so in computing adjusted field-goal percentage, one credit is given for a two-point field goal and 11â2 credits for a three. A shooter 2-for-6 on three-pointers has an adjusted field-goal percentage of 50, as does a shooter who makes three of six two-pointers.

Anyway, back to the roster. At full strength, KU will be five-deep up front with the strong, improved Jackson, Christian (his game’s not) Moody and athletic Julian Wright backing up a pair of giants who run the floor like guards. Most college teams would kill for either Sasha Kaun or C.J. Giles, even if as sophomores they will have their highs and lows. With two of them, that doubles the chances of one big man having a big night.

By conference play, Self should have five strong perimeter defenders: Jeff Hawkins, Russell Robinson, Mario Chalmers, Stewart and Brandon Rush. Such depth will motivate Downs to become less of a defensive liability.

Offensively, with Chalmers and Rush consistently blowing by defenders to set up Kaun and Giles underneath and Downs on the perimeter, and with a team full of skilled passers, scoring shouldn’t be a problem.

If Arizona takes it to KU in a first-round Maui Classic game, feel better by daydreaming about a young roster with seven more weeks of experience and Jackson and Stewart eligible. And also remember that in 1988 KU went 1-2 in Maui, defeating Chaminade and losing to Iowa and Illinois.

This team doesn’t have the best player in college basketball, and that team did. Still, the Jayhawks (1-0) have enough promise to keep impatient types from freaking out if they return to the mainland with a 2-2 record.