In his time at Kansas, Bill Self has coached up several talented but inconsistent freshman point guards, including Sherron Collins, left, in 2006-07, and Frank Mason, right, this season.

The inevitable comparisons came early in Frank Mason’s career. The icy stare he brings to competition. The pitbull mentality. The blend of strength and quickness.

All those qualities called to mind another KU sub-6-footer, but a qualifier seemed necessary at the time. Mason brought many of the same weapons to battle as Sherron Collins, but in pointing that out, it always seemed wise to add, “just not as talented.”

Nobody could have projected enough improvement from Mason to match Collins’ feats. After all, Collins finished his career as the fifth-leading scorer in Kansas history with 1,888 points. He was a two-time All-American, third-team as a junior, second-team as a senior.

Collins arrived at Kansas with a highlight video that showcased Harlem Globetrotter-like dribble moves he used to create space to shoot 3-pointers at will. His throw-it-off-the-glass slam during the McDonald’s All-American dunk contest made him a celebrity.

A television was Mason’s only ticket to the McDonald’s game. When Kansas recruited him, the only other school interested in him was Towson, where he initially committed.

Now nobody feels compelled to include the “just not as talented,” clause when making comparisons.

The truth is that roughly a third of the way through his senior season, Mason is playing even better basketball than Collins did at any point of his college career.

Mason can’t match Collins’ two All-American honors, but if maintains his current level of play, he will achieve something even Collins never did in earning first-team All-American status.

Mason’s averaging 19.8 points, 5.9 assists and 4.6 rebounds and is shooting .482 from 3-point range and .538 overall.

Now that Kansas has entered conference play, it will be difficult to maintain that sort of statistical efficiency, but he clearly has improved his game a great deal as a senior.

Complacency never has invaded Mason’s space. He added muscle in the offseason, which could be one factor in him finishing so well on drives to the hoop, and he’s shooting better than ever from long distance.

It’s often said of freshmen that they need to adjust to the speed of the college game. For Mason, he makes such a efficient moves in the air it’s as if the rest of the bodies shift into slow-motion for him, allowing him to create the space he needs to finish shots.

Collins might have been at distributing to shooters after collapsing defenses on drives, but he didn’t finish the way Mason does.

Collins hurt defenses more from long range and with such great skill at freeing himself for 3-pointers, sometimes serving as a safety net against the shot clock expiring. Mason picks his spots and hits them at a higher rate than did Collins.

Mason’s stamina has improved. Collins’ declined as he put on weight and developed sore knees, a combination of factors that robbed him of some of his quickness.

Mason earns trips to the free-throw line more frequently than did Collins, an even better free-throw shooter than Mason.

The road ahead of Mason in the final two-thirds of the season has potholes all over the place, so his numbers likely will decline, but if he keeps leading his team to victory, that won’t hurt his chances of becoming a first-team All-American.

Plenty of talented point guards await him as the schedule strengthens. West Virginia’s Jevon Carter is among the nation’s best defenders. Iowa State’s Monte Morris, Baylor’s Manu Lecomete, Oklahoma State’s Jawun Evans and Kentucky’s De’Aaron Fox, to name just a few, will want to show what they can do against Mason, whose remarkably efficient start to the season has thrown him into the national spotlight.

That won’t make Mason back up an inch. A memorable line a late mobster friend of mine once told me applies to Mason on a basketball court.

“I ain’t a scared a nobody!” Rocky blurted as he pounded the table.

Fearless Frank Mason fears nobody on a basketball court. At the same time, the game he sees in front of him plays out so slowly that he doesn’t lose control and lapse into the mindset of trying to prove anything to anybody. That makes sense, when you think about it. There is no better way to demonstrate fearlessness than to go about one’s job in secure fashion, oblivious to the judging eyes of others.