Bill Self saw it live in person in Hawaii and again on tape in his Parrott Athletic Center basketball office.

His Kansas University basketball players — who fell to Arizona, 61-49, and Arkansas, 64-63, before waxing NCAA Div. II Chaminade, 102-54 — appear to possess an important intangible: heart.

“The fight was there every time, the guys trying hard,” Self said of his Jayhawks, who erased a 16-point deficit against the Wildcats and eight-point deficit versus the Razorbacks. “You can’t accomplish anything until those things are there.”

True, the Jayhawks, who take a 2-2 record into Thursday’s 8 p.m. home battle against 20th-ranked Nevada (3-0), were not able to close out the comebacks. Yet, signs of grit in attempting to do so cannot be denied.

“Once we settled down, we played well in terms of competing,” KU assistant coach Tim Jankovich said Monday, subbing for Self on the weekly Hawk Talk radio show while Self is out of town recruiting. “The best part about it was our guys — even at their age — the first game out of the chute, they battled. They care deeply about winning. That is encouraging.”

Six days in Hawaii may have helped speed a chemistry-building process with the 2005-06 Jayhawks.

“Our guys have always been close,” Jankovich said. “It’s a close team now. They seem to like each other. There are levels of relationships. One is they casually like each other, a second they really like each other and a third, ‘I know you, you know me.’ It’s what happens when you spend a lot of time together, when you have so much idle time between games. You have nothing else to do but talk to each other.

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“It can only help you when everybody likes each other. I hope it does help in the long run.”

As far as the skill categories … KU’s defense appeared to be way ahead of the offense in Maui.

The Jayhawks allowed an average 60 points per game in the three games off 34.7 percent shooting.

KU’s players, meanwhile, averaged 71.7 points a game off 47.3 percent marksmanship. The Jayhawks hit 33.3 percent of their threes (17 of 51) to their foes’ 32.6 percent (14 of 43).

Sloppy with the ball, the Jayhawks committed 56 turnovers against 51 assists.

“I think we have good shooters, (but) perimeter shooting would probably be an area of concern,” said Self, whose Jayhawks for the year average 76.2 points off 47 percent shooting.

Sasha Kaun is team leader at 59 percent, closely followed by Brandon Rush (58.5) and C.J. Giles (54.3).

“When you run the offense the way we run the pass … it’s a shot-off-the-catch offense,” Self explained. “We probably would be better to open the floor and do some things, especially with C.J. being such a good ‘pick and pop’ guy, and also Julian. We’ll tweak some things.”

Self has been mentioning “pick and pop” a lot in interviews this season.

Jankovich referred to the saying when answering a question about KU’s high/low offense.

“If you watch the NBA,” Jankovich said, “you will see ball-screening, ‘pick and roll’ or ‘pick and pop.’ If you are (Dirk) Nowitzki or (Rasheed) Wallace, you pick and pop out and shoot a jump shot.

“So far, we’ve not found our rhythm. It starts with the break. We’re not running like we want to. It’s getting fixed with several hours of practice and encouragement.”

The Jayhawks practiced Friday, Saturday and Sunday and took the day off Monday.

“I think you need to have different modes to play,” Self said. “We need to have a power mode and need to have a spread and drive it mode. Hopefully our offense will certainly look better.”

¢ Julian has clout: KU freshman Julian Wright apparently helped convince point guard deluxe Sherron Collins to sign with KU earlier this month. Wright hails from Homewood-Flossmoor High in the Chicagoland area, while Collins attends Chicago’s Crane High.

“I told him (Collins) how H-F was really good, unselfish, not looking out for themselves. That’s the kind of system coach Self has put us in — play the game well, be happy and work hard,” Wright told the Northwest Times of Indiana.

The 5-foot-11 Collins is off to a quick start his senior season. He scored 46 points in an 88-79 victory over Young and 32 in a 72-66 victory over Hubbard at the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tournament. Crane will meet Hales-Franciscan in Thursday’s tourney final.

¢ Players of week: Texas’ LaMarcus Aldridge was named Big 12 Conference player of the week Monday. Kansas State’s David Hoskins was named rookie of the week.

Aldridge, a 6-10 sophomore, averaged 18 points and 12.3 rebounds in victories over Iowa, West Virginia and Louisiana Monroe. Hoskins averaged 16.5 points in victories over New Mexico and Stephen F. Austin.