In what has to qualify as one of the strangest explanations for shooting so well in the first half and so poorly in the second, Kansas University sophomore forward Brandon Rush wondered if it could have been coach Bill Self talking to the team longer than usual during halftime of Saturday’s ugly victory over Toledo’s band of sawed-off hustlers.

That’s a tough one to figure, but just for fun, let’s go back to the days of high school English class and search for symbolism in Rush’s statement. Let’s suppose those words spilled out of his mouth because he subconsciously feels as if the Jayhawks are being overcoached.

What do you do to Rush for expressing that theory? Make him run extra suicides? No.

Instead, with all this time leading up to a weak opponent (Winston-Salem State, without celebrity former players Earl Monroe and Stephen A. Smith), Self could try something that could result in him better understanding his players and his players not taking him for granted.

The ground rules: Sherron Collins is the player-coach of the blue team. Russell Robinson is the player-coach of the white team. The point guards have a draft, with each round going in A, B, B, A order and the teams flopping which has the first pick of the round after each round.

The game clock, TV timeouts, pregame routine and halftime break all follow the rules of a real game. Assistants Joe Dooley, Kurtis Townsend and Tim Jankovich are the referees and aren’t allowed to instruct. Self silently watches by himself from midcourt, 15 rows up.

The five starters for the Winston-Salem game are the five starters from the winning team in the intrasquad scrimmage. The losers do twice as many suicides as the winners, and the only one exempt from running at all is the leading scorer of the winning team.

Think anyone would play tentatively under those parameters? Think anyone would ask not to start?

Picking first, Collins selects Mario Chalmers, so that he doesn’t have to bring it up against the Robinson/Chalmers dynamic defensive duo. Robinson, who does everything well except score, counters by taking leading scorers Darrell Arthur and Brandon Rush.

Delighted Julian Wright is still available, Collins selects the fellow Chicagoan and starts the second round by taking Sasha Kaun. With the next two picks, Robinson nabs Darnell Jackson and Rod Stewart. Collins selects Brady Morningstar to complete the second round.

Robinson opens the third round by selecting Jeremy Case. Collins takes Matt Kleinmann and Brennan Bechard, and Robinson picks Brad Witherspoon.

The blue: Collins, Chalmers, Morningstar, Wright and Kaun, with Kleinmann and Bechard in reserve.

The white: Robinson, Stewart, Rush, Jackson and Arthur, with Case and Witherspoon in reserve.

Meet the next day for a back-and-forth discussion of it, then watch the tape.

The purpose? Self gets a look at his players when they’re doing more playing than thinking, and the players, wondering how it was the scrimmage degenerated into a slop-fest by the end, realize they need their coach. Bonus: The coach gets a window into which point guard, Collins or Robinson, is the better leader.