Kansas University guard Danielle McCray answers questions at Big 12 Conference Media Day. Players and coaches met with reporters Tuesday in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City, Mo. ? Just four days after entering Allen Fieldhouse on a red carpet for Late Night in the Phog, the Kansas University women’s basketball team turned few heads Tuesday during Big 12 Women’s Basketball Media Day at Marriott Country Club Plaza.

Media members clamored for Oklahoma’s two-time All-American, Courtney Paris, and new Texas coach Gail Goestenkors, who won 396 games and went to four Final Fours at Duke before heading west to Austin, but ho-hummed about the Jayhawks, whom the league coaches picked to finish 10th this season.

Fourth-year KU coach Bonnie Henrickson, however, likes what she sees in her young squad, thanks in large part to the strides the Jayhawks made last season while giving five freshmen significant minutes.

“In the short-term, when we played all those young kids last year, it was painful, to be honest with you,” Henrickson said of the 11-20 campaign that featured one 2-15 stretch. “But for the growth of the program it was the best thing to do.”

Although the Jayhawks won’t have last year’s leading scorer, Shaquina Mosley, they have six returning players who averaged between five and 11 points.

“We have to have somebody step up and bring what Mosley did,” Henrickson said. “That’s the anxiety I have about who is going to step up and be that person to push us and lead us and step up and be a finisher.”

Sophomore forward Danielle McCray, KU’s leading returning scorer (10.5 ppg), might be the team’s next go-to player, but McCray, who will play more on the perimeter this season thanks to some frontcourt additions, said she didn’t consider herself or any particular teammate the best scoring option.

“There’s really not a go-to player on the team,” the Olathe East product said. “Everyone’s kind of even, everyone has the ability to score.”

When pressed to name the team’s best one-on-one threat, McCray set her guns to vague and stuck to them.

“There’s a lot to choose from right now,” she said. “Everyone has their good days, and everyone shows up at different times.”

That ambiguity may have been a form of modesty. Henrickson said she asked her players who they thought should have the ball at the end of the game, and most named either McCray or sophomore guard Sade Morris, who averaged only 6.4 ppg last season.

Henrickson said that Morris would not have been mentioned for that honor as a freshman, but now is playing with a different attitude and actually wants to be that player for her team.

“That’s just how much more aggressive she is than what she was last year,” Henrickson said.

Even if McCray, Morris or any other player fails to step up as the leading offensive threat, Henrickson said she liked fielding a team that’s balanced.

“It usually evens out in a wash and a lot of people touch (the ball), and I think those are the hardest teams to play,” she said. “Most coaches in the league, if you’ve got someone who can dominate, they’re going to take that person away from you.”

On the other hand … “If I had a kid who could score 30 a night, it’s not like I’d stop her,” Henrickson said.

The KU players like the balanced approach.

“This year we just want to run and push the ball, and whoever scores, scores,” senior forward Taylor McIntosh said. “We just want to put more points up this year.”

KU averaged only 60.5 ppg last season – last in the Big 12 – but McCray still thinks a balanced scoring attack can win games.

“I think it’s good just because, if that go-to player isn’t on that night, it’s always better to have more players than one player,” she said.

KU’s top returning scorers – McCray, Kelly Kohn, Taylor McIntosh, Morris, Marija Zinic and LaChelda Jacobs – could find help in the form of two freshmen forwards, 6-foot-2 Nicollette Smith and 6-foot-5 Krysten Boogaard, who Henrickson thinks can make an impact this season.

“The players are starting to realize if we throw it up to (Boogaard) she can go get it most of the time and finish around the rim,” Henrickson said.

Meanwhile, Smith will bring size and shooting touch to the KU attack.

“Nicollette, she’s a big girl who has a great shot,” McCray said. “She brings mismatches up for a lot of people just because she can step outside and shoot the three.”

If everything goes as planned, the Jayhawks might garner more attention the next time all the Big 12 teams convene in Kansas City, Mo. – for the Big 12 Championship in March.

“With us being able to mix those young kids in,” Henrickson said, “we have a chance to make an immediate impact.”