photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas head coach Bill Self, point guard Frank Mason and the Jayhawks will open their season tonight with an exhibition game with Pittsburg State.

Thomas Robinson was runner-up to Kentucky’s Anthony Davis in national player-of-the-year awards.

Sherron Collins was a third-team All American as a junior, a second-teamer as a senior.
Brandon Rush earned first-team Big 12 honors in each of his three seasons at Kansas and led the team in scoring all three years. Mario Chalmers was right behind Rush in scoring in each of those years and was named Most Outstanding Player in the 2008 Final Four, the only featuring all No. 1 seeds.

Tyshawn Taylor started four years and earned third-team All-American honors as a senior. Marcus and Markieff Morris did terrific things in teaming with Taylor for three years before heading to the NBA.

Andrew Wiggins was the first pick in the NBA draft, Joel Embiid the third.

Wayne Simien was a first-team All-American in Bill Self’s second season at Kansas.

Frank Mason need not take a back seat to any one of those Jayhawks.

“He’s meant to us as a program as much as any one player has since I’ve been here,” 14th-year Kansas coach Bill Self said on the Big 12 conference call, a day after his team clinched the school’s 13th consecutive Big 12 regular-season title.

Self looked back one more time at assistant coach Kurtis Townsend discovering Mason.

“So thankful that coach Townsend saw him in a back gym in Vegas when we were there recruiting another kid,” Self said. “Kurtis said, ‘Bill, I think this kid is as good or better as anybody we’re recruiting.’ I said, ‘Well, who else is recruiting him?’ That’s what all coaches would say. ‘Well, not really too many folks at all.’ ‘Well, are you sure he’s that good?’ He said ‘Well, I’ll go back and watch him some more.’ First impression was he was (that good). After watching him more, Kurt liked him even more.

“We knew he’d be a good player when we got him, but his maturity and how hard he’s worked on his game and his knowledge of the game has grown so much. I don’t know if he can win national player of the year or if he deserves to, but I would say positively he deserves to be in the very immediate discussion with two or three other guys as the primary candidates.”

Mason’s averaging 20.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists, is shooting .512 from 3-point range and has guided his No. 3 team to a 25-3 record with victories against schools that at the time Kansas played them were ranked No. 1 (Duke), No. 2 (Baylor), No. 4 (at Kentucky, at Baylor) and No. 9 (West Virginia). He consistently has produced in the clutch.

Others who belong in the discussion for the Wooden Award include UCLA’s Lonzo Ball, Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan and Villanova’s Josh Hart.

I like Mason’s chances. A lot.