Here’s an unusual coincidence certain to cool the cockles of many a Sunflower State denizen’s heart:

In last fall’s Big 12 Conference volleyball standings, Kansas University and Kansas State tied for last place. Then, during the winter women’s basketball chase, darned if the Wildcats and Jayhawks didn’t do the same thing.

If you consider volleyball and basketball as the flagship female sports at each state school – and many people do – then these are hardly halcyon days for either program.

To use the most positive spin, the two Kansas schools tied for 11th place in volleyball and in women’s basketball. From a glass-half-empty perspective, however, KU and K-State shared the cellar in each sport.

At Kansas State, where women’s basketball had been stealing the headlines from the men over the last several years, the bottom fell out following a crucial January injury.

The Wildcats were 14-2 with Marlies Gipson in the lineup. Then Gipson, who was averaging 12.8 points and 8.3 rebounds a game, suffered a season-ending knee injury, and the ‘Cats stumbled to a 2-11 record without her.

At Kansas, meanwhile, injuries were never a factor. Inexperience was.

Coach Bonnie Henrickson lost the three leading scorers from the season before, including 6-foot-2 Crystal Kemp, one of the Big 12’s best players around the basket. Into this breech, Henrickson tossed a seven-member freshman class.

Hindsight is 20-20, but since two of those newcomers have spent most of this season on the bench, it may have been more prudent for Henrickson to sign five freshmen and two junior-college transfers instead.

It’s no secret Henrickson and her staff are scouring the juco ranks now. The third-year KU coach absolutely, positively has to find someone who can give the Jayhawks an inside presence.

At the same time, Henrickson has to hope another year of maturity will turn the best and brightest of the freshmen into better shooters.

Kelly Kohn, a 5-foot-9 guard, and Danielle McCray, a 5-foot-11 guard-forward, figure to form the nucleus of the Jayhawks’ lineup over the next three seasons. Kohn plays with dogged determination, rarely turns the ball over and shares the team lead in steals. But Kohn is shooting only 34 percent from the floor and 51 percent from the free-throw line. Those numbers must improve.

McCray, meanwhile, came on strong in February after a slow start. She has the potential to become a go-to player, something the Jayhawks sorely lack. The Olathe East product has boosted her field-goal percentage to 41 percent and continues to lead the team in free-throw accuracy at 84 percent.

Kansas can win with Kohn and McCray in the lineup. Taylor McIntosh, a 5-11 junior, is also a decent complementary player. But who will replace Shaquina Mosley, the catalyst of a late-season surge that enabled KU to win four of its last seven games after a horrid 2-15 stretch? And who will produce in the paint?

On paper, the Jayhawks appear capable of reaching the .500 level next season and, after three last-place conference finishes over the last six years, even an average season would look good at this stage.