In many ways, the lob pass that results in a loud dunk embodies what this Kansas University basketball team is all about. It at once is fresh material for the highlight videos and a sound, high-percentage play.

Those qualities capture how Kansas plays the game. Defensively, Kansas pressures the ball, but not in a way that leaves the Jayhawks vulnerable. A dangerous 3-point shooting team, KU lately has been smart enough to try to score from close range before bombing away. That approach is working.

Most of the players on the team are exciting yet fundamentally sound players. They help each other defensively with great efficiency and seem to a man to be just as happy being on the passing end of a bucket as the receiving end.

Three second-half lob plays shook the rim, jacked the crowd and deflated DePaul in Saturday afternoon’s 84-66 KU victory that felt more like a 40-point blowout.

Mario Chalmers delivered lobs to Sasha Kaun, who got way up there, and to Darnell Jackson, who pulled the slightly off-target pass out of the sky with one hand, slammed it through and was given a chance to make it a three-point play at the free-throw line. Russell Robinson set up Darrell Arthur for his chin-at-the-rim flush.

Bill Self, the Jayhawks’ old-school coach who grows livid at the sight of highlights for the sake of highlights, appreciates the value of the alley-oop.

“People who are old fundamental people will disagree, but I like plays that can change games,” Self said. “There are certain plays that can change the momentum of the game. I don’t like spectacular, fancy, whatever, but the lob pass is a simpler pass for us to complete and execute than it is just throwing the ball to the post and making a shot because we’ve got guys you can throw it to a lot of different places and they can go get it. I don’t tell our guys to throw the lob, but I certainly don’t tell them not to.”

The players love lob plays more than the coach, and spectators love them more than the players.

“It makes the game fun,” senior guard Russell Robinson said. “Coach likes it himself. It’s fun to come back to the bench and see him sitting back laughing and happy.”

The Jayhawks did that a lot for their coach Saturday, playing their best all-around game of the season.

Mario Chalmers (12 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and seven steals) didn’t do a little of everything, he did a lot of everything. Russell Robinson not only grabbed an offensive rebound right after it fell off the rim and slammed it home with two hands, he blocked a shot inside and locked down DePaul’s leading scorer, Draelon Burns.

Jackson – what a player this guy has become in this, his senior season – gave another strong performance, and Kaun (15 points in 15 minutes) lent one of his best career efforts off the bench.

Inside and out, this group is coming together well. Not many teams in the college game blend this much talent with this much experience. Things that used to have to be harped on, stunting the team’s growth, now come naturally, which has accelerated the learning curve.

If the health of injured players continues to improve, this could be a long season, not as in painfully long, rather as in a season that could stretch all the way to April.