Kansas guard Frank Mason III (0) pulls up for a floater during the second half, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016 during the championship game of the CBE Classic at Sprint Center.

After averaging more than 35 minutes per game apiece during the first five Kansas basketball contests of the season, lead guards Frank Mason III and Devonte’ Grahahm have been able to kick back down the stretch of the Jayhawks’ two most recent victories, gaining important rest after an early-season onslaught of big minutes and tough opponents.

But while their recent sub-30-minute outings have been nice — both on their legs and on the scoreboard — Kansas basketball coach Bill Self believes that true rest comes not on game days but in the hours in between.

“They talk about that,” Self said of players like Mason and Graham logging fewer minutes, which may or may not continue at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, when the Jayhawks (6-1) play host to Stanford (6-2) at Allen Fieldhouse. “I don’t know, with a 22-year-old, what the value is in playing 28 (minutes) instead of 32. I think there’s other values that may not (be) thought about.”

Kansas guard Devonte' Graham (4) shows his frustration after a foul by the Jayhawks during the first half of the Champions Classic on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2016 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The biggest of those, at least in Self’s eyes, comes during his team’s preparation for each game. Instead of running through the scouting report for each opponent while on the practice floor, Self takes it out of the gym and puts it in front of the television screen.

“You stop and think about it, that’s two scouting reports every team over 35 games, that’s 70 scouting reports so maybe some people have their guys on their legs an extra 35-50 hours, where I don’t allow my guys to stand during scouting report,” Self said. “Things like that, maybe reducing practice time or reducing reps in practice, I actually think that is as important as a number of minutes.”

The belief there is that these players are finely conditioned athletes in the physical prime of their lives. While it sounds good to have a key player log just 28 minutes instead of playing closer to the full 40, resting for that 5-10 minutes of game time is not nearly as crucial as finding down time the rest of the week.

This practice is something Self has done going back to his days at Illinois. He learned it from former Utah coach, the late Rick Majerus, and liked it because it fell in line perfectly with the way he wanted to coach and teach.

“I’ve always thought scouting report should be a classroom setting, where you sit down and you show ’em and then you ask questions and guys have to have answers,” Self said. “I’ve never thought scouting report was a time where you actually defend (the opponent’s) actions. I always thought you did that in drills during practice. You’re gonna defend their actions, but you may do it in a three-minute segment during practice or a five-minute segment in practice.”

Although Self acknowledged that keeping players as fresh as possible for as long as possible was ideal — he admitted that Mason may have been worn down by the end of last season because of how much he was used — he also proved he was willing to operate in the reality that basic math dictates.

“If you play four guards, he’s gonna play 35 minutes,” Self said of Mason. “If you play three guards the majority of the time, he’s gonna play 32 or 30 minutes, which would probably be better for him over time, but it’s hard to take him out if you only have one guard to sub over there. Even if everybody played equal minutes, if you play four-guard lineups you’re dividing 160 (minutes) by five. That’s 32 minutes per person. That’s just average if you play small the whole time.

“That’s why it’s so important that we get our bigs going and we’re able to play big more.”