Injured Kansas guard Devonte Graham, center, and the rest of the bench react to a steal and a bucket by point guard Frank Mason during the first half against UNLV on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2015 at Allen Fieldhouse.

As the great steroid debate rages in anticipation of the release of the latest class of Hall of Fame baseball players, to be announced at 1 p.m. today, a quick nod is in order to the best team of the Steroid Era, the one that didn’t march a succession of batters to the plate who resembled the Michelin Man with muscles so inflated as to be more fit for cartoons than baseball games.

The Yankees of Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams didn’t need chemistry to score runs. They needed to string clutch singles and doubles, mixing in a walk here, a grounder to the right side with nobody out to move the runner to third there. In time, late-inning rallies cobbled with old-fashioned baseball became so common that the most confident dugout was the one behind by a run or two. The more they did it, the more they believed they were going to do it again. The contagious confidence resulted in the Yankees going from one or two runs behind to one or two runs ahead, and Mariano Rivera, the best closer of his era, took care of the rest.

Which of course brings us to the Kansas University basketball team. Don’t most roads in Lawrence lead there?

Kansas has lost two games by gargantuan margins and is 11-0 in the rest. Three of the 11 victories came when Kansas trailed at the half, including Sunday’s 76-61 dusting of UNLV, which led by four at the half. Every time Kansas rebounds from a deficit, it seems, it’s easier for it to do it again.

“I asked our guys the other day when I wasn’t real happy with them, a little two?hour meeting that we had, you know, what do we do?” Self recounted. “Tell me, what we can hang our hat on? What does our program, our team do well right now?”

The players had an answer, and it’s tough to refute it.

“Basically, the biggest thing that they came up with, we found a way to win some games where we haven’t played very well,” Self said. “And I do think that’s a positive trait. That’s a very positive trait.”

Not that trailing at the half equates to playing poorly.

“Now we’re dwelling on the negatives, because I think we’ve played pretty well since we’ve gotten back,” Self said. “Even though we were behind at halftime (Sunday), we played well. We missed shots and got the ball where we wanted to, and basketball or football, whatever it is, it’s such a unique game that you can do something well and have an unbelievably long 7?footer (Christian Wood) take that away. It leads to a layup on the other end, and you don’t have time to get back for balance.”

Kansas closed the game on a 13-4 run that required stellar defense and sound ball security.

KU trailed Florida by 15 points at the half and won 71-65. In the Michigan State game, the Jayhawks trailed by a point at halftime, took the lead with 17:18 left and never relinquished it. They know how to win close games because the pressure doesn’t get to them. They play down the stretch fueled by a belief something good will happen, unburdened by fear of failure. That frame of mind has translated to a remarkable 91.3-percent accuracy rate (63 of 69) from the free-throw line in the final five minutes of all their games.