After a great

Sasha Kaun averaged six points and four rebounds a game last season. Coach Bill Self would like to see him raise those numbers to 12 points and seven boards this year.

With Sasha Kaun standing at 6-foot-11 – whether that is with or without the new curly hairdo is uncertain – most of the Kansas University men’s basketball team has to look up to see him.

This year, however, it is more than just his height that has Kaun standing above the crowd. He’s also one of six seniors on a team that made it to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament a year ago.

“Not just on the court, but guys look up to me and ask about everything off the court as well,” Kaun said. “It’s nice to be a senior because the guys listen to you when you give advice. We’ve been here for more than three years, so we know some things that they’ll be going through. It’s a big responsibility, but it’s definitely great.”

Kaun has suffered through his share of injuries in his time at KU, but for the first time the Russian will enter the season with no serious injuries and, according to coach Bill Self, is coming off one of his best offseasons.

“Sasha’s probably had about as good a career as anybody on our team when you stop to think about it,” Self said. “The only little setback Sasha’s had since he’s been here is that for two summers in a row he was totally inactive for various reasons. He’s had a great summer, a great spring, and if you ask any of our guys, they’d say he’s been very, very impressive so far. He’s got to be a consistent 12-points, seven-rebounds-type of guy for us, and I think he can do that.”

Those numbers would be quite an improvement over last season’s stats, when Kaun averaged six points and four rebounds per game. Kaun, who was fifth on the team in rebounding a year ago, will play a big role in balancing the loss of last year’s team leader in rebounds, Julian Wright, who had 165 more rebounds than Kaun.

“This is the last one, and I’ve got to perform as well as I have been since this is my senior year,” Kaun said. “There’s no more, you have to know this is your last year and whatever you finish your season with is going to be your biggest memory. You just have to leave it out there every game.”

Fortunately for Kansas, Kaun’s biggest contributions came during KU’s run to the Big 12 Conference regular-season title.

While he was held scoreless twice during conference contests, he was never shut out in the rebounding department. His best rebounding performances came at Colorado and at Oklahoma, where he collected nine boards in each contest.

“These guys have a chance to win four straight Big 12 crowns, and there’s only been one recruiting class here that’s done that, I think,” Self said. “They have a chance to win three straight Big 12 tournament crowns. I don’t know how many recruiting classes have been able to do that.”