photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas guard Frank Mason III (0) celebrates next to Kansas head coach Bill Self following the Jayhawks' 90-84 win, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016 at Allen Fieldhouse.

KANSAS CITY, MO. — After coaching for 13 seasons at Pittsburgh, TCU men’s basketball coach Jamie Dixon enters the Big 12 Conference with some appreciation for Bill Self and the Kansas program.

Speaking at Big 12 Media Day for the first time, Dixon compared Self to some of the coaching giants in the industry and said he’s on his way to earning a plaque in the basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.

“We’ve gone against some pretty good coaches over the years and Hall of Famers. He’s obviously a future Hall of Famer if not already,” Dixon said of Self. “And, yeah, I mean, what they’ve done is inconceivable. No one could have predicted it, and it’s still hard to believe.”

Coaching in the ACC, Dixon matched up against some of the giants of the industry throughout the season. But he’s amazed by the Jayhawks’ 12-year reign at the top of the Big 12.

“There’s nothing like this. I mean, to win it 12 years in a row and what Kansas has done, it’s unheard of,” Dixon said. “I guess it hasn’t been done since UCLA, I guess is what they said. And that was obviously a different time. So, yeah, it is different in that regard. But probably stands out even more when you get the picks for the year, and the 12, 13th time, and they’re claiming them the champion in the 13th year already.”

The Horned Frogs are ranked last in the Big 12 coaches’ preseason poll, but Dixon said it’s ultimately up to the rest of the conference to unseat the Jayhawks from their spot at the top of the conference.

“I was talking to somebody earlier, it’s unbelievable,” Dixon said of the streak. “Obviously that was the thing about the Big East. There was no clear-cut team year-in, and year-out. We had the best record in the conference over a ten-year span. But we weren’t looked at as the leader of the conference.

“There’s no question about it. I guess it’s up to the other nine to do something about it.”