Kansas guard Brandon Rush takes it to the bucket past Boston College forwad Tyler Roche at the Silvio O. Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

We all have our pet peeves. Ice chunks in ice cream. Self-centered cads who recline their seats into my face on airplanes. Politicians who say “change” every other word. Cats. Last but not least, basketball players who equate “pass” with “unselfish.”

Even after he learned to trust teammates, Michael Jordan still basically was a ball hog. That didn’t make Jordan selfish. It helped the Chicago Bulls to win six rings. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Jordan was the best defensive player in the NBA.

Brandon Rush, a laid-back, pleasant young man, often brings a pass-first mentality onto the court, but that doesn’t make him “unselfish,” as he maintained after a game in which his coach let him have it during halftime of Tuesday night’s 90-60 victory against Loyola (Md.) College.

Kansas needs Rush to play with a chip on his shoulder and take it out on the opposing defense. Maybe that’s what KU coach Bill Self was doing in going public with his frustrations regarding Rush’s passive approach. Maybe he was trying to instill a little anger into the easy-going junior.

It’s Rush’s turn for a counter move. Does he have it in him? Rush’s best play, the one that would most benefit KU’s 15-0 basketball team, would be a supremely unselfish one.

Rush: “Coach, you have a minute?”

Self: “Sure, Brandon. What’s on your mind?”

Rush: “I’ve been thinking about what you said about me needing to be more aggressive, and you’re right. Here’s what you need to do to make sure that happens. Draw up a couple of special set plays designed for me to take the shot. Start the game with them. Each game draw up a new one or two for me.”

Self: “Good idea. Let’s do it. Our first two set plays of the Big 12 season will be designed for you to shoot.”

It’s worth a try.

It was nice to see Self air his frustrations. Coaches, Self included, tend to tread so lightly these days with public comments about players. It wasn’t always that way. Visit KUsports.com, go to the right rail, click on the content labeled “20 Years Later,” and check out some of the gems that rolled off Larry Brown’s tongue during the 1988 national championship season.

Such as: “We don’t do things that require effort. Danny has five rebounds in 37 minutes. We have 23 turnovers against a team that’s applying no pressure at all. The problem is our execution is so bad.”

The “Danny” he referenced after an 11-point victory against Appalachian State was Danny Manning, one of college basketball’s all-time greats.

In a five-point victory against Western Carolina, Brown said: “Our team is tremendously overrated.”

Marvin Branch had a double-double against Pomona Pitzer, and this is what his coach had to say about him: “He’ll hear he had 17 points and 12 rebounds and his friends will say, ‘What’s that little guy yelling at you for? You were great.’ We’re playing against 6-4 guys. He shoulda had 40 points and 17 rebounds.”

Brown spared no feelings. And Kansas hung a banner.

Twenty years from now, Self publicly urging Rush to stop taking the path of least resistance could be remembered as a pivotal moment in a season worth remembering.