photo by: Kyle Babson

Freshman guard Quentin Grimes enters the field house at Late Night in the Phog on Friday, Sept. 28, 2018 at Allen Fieldhouse.

The man to whom his coach compared him on Wednesday, at KU’s annual media day, became the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft and, one year ago, signed a five-year contract extension worth $150 million.

There certainly are worse players for Kansas freshman Quentin Grimes to be linked with than former KU one-and-done star Andrew Wiggins.

But the way Self explained it, Grimes today is drawing those comparisons to Wiggins because of his inconsistent nature.

By inconsistent, we’re not talking about the plight of a streaky shooter, who makes six straight and misses his next five. And we’re not talking about attitude, approach or desire.

Grimes has all of those positive traits in spades. What he needs, at least in Self’s mind, is a motor that stays flipped to the highest speed a little more often.

“After being around Quentin for 17 days in the summer (with USA Basketball) and having him here this fall, the thing I would say about him is he has a tendency to not engage himself into all the possessions like he’s capable of,” Self said Wednesday. “There was a guy named Wiggins that played here that we kind of thought the same thing (about) sometimes.”

To be clear, Self was not comparing Grimes’ game to that of Wiggins. Nor does he believe the two are the same type of athlete or should be able to do the same types of things on the basketball floor.

“But I am kind of comparing, I wish he had more of that assassin, attack mode that I think he will get as he gets more confident,” Self explained. “We believe he’s got it inside of him already, but I just don’t think he’s quite confident yet to really display that.”

In a sense, Grimes’ current status is indicative of where the entire team sits.

Loaded with unmatched depth and elite-level talent at all five positions, the Jayhawks, according to Self, are still in the infant stages of putting it all together.

And who could blame them? With official practices still just two weeks old, and old veterans like Devonte’ Graham and Svi Mykhailiuk no longer setting the pace and leading the way, the Jayhawks, in all aspects, remain a work in progress. Think of it as Self in the role of Vincent Van Gogh, holding the brush and casting the first strokes of “The Starry Night,” one of his many masterpieces.

“I’ll be pretty candid on this,” Self said Wednesday. “Our offense doesn’t look very good. It looked much better when we had four shooters around Dok.

“Right now we’re laboring to figure out the easiest way for us to score. So we’re going to have to score different ways. But we do have bodies and foul problems shouldn’t be as big an issue as it has been in recent years and it should allow us to be more aggressive defensively, defending the post and protecting the rim. … We’ve got some bodies (where) we can throw it into people and hopefully put the other team at risk.”

Grimes’ relatively slow start to his college career is a prime example of how difficult the jump in levels can be. Even the most elite prospects in each prep class require at least some kind of adjustment period, whether it’s to the coaching, the speed of the game, life as a college student or a combination of all of those factors.

Just five or six months ago, Grimes was at the top of his game, playing with more confidence than ever and putting up monster stats and memorable nights in various high school all-star games and during his stint with Self and USA Basketball.

He’s had to start back at square one since arriving at KU, but the 6-foot-5 guard with a silky smooth all-around game continues to work every day and is quickly finding out that the talent around him can help his progress.

Count Grimes in the camp with those who are excited about the prospects of what KU’s frontcourt depth could mean for the Jayhawks this winter.

“We are super deep this year,” Grimes said Wednesday. “Everyone on this team can play multiple positions on the court. I’ve never played with a true big man, so having so many of those on this team is something I’m looking forward to.”

Kansas opens the exhibition season in two weeks, with home games against Emporia State (Oct. 25) and Washburn (Nov. 1). After that, it’s on to the season opener against Michigan State on Nov. 6 at the Champions Classic in Indianapolis.