You won’t find many bigger fans of looking in advance at the start of the Kansas men’s basketball team’s Big 12 schedule than me.

And I was at it again earlier this week, before KU closed out its non-conference slate with wins over Creighton and Omaha at Allen Fieldhouse.

Conference play arrives next week, when the Jayhawks on Thursday head south to Lubbock, Texas, to open the 2020-21 Big 12 slate in the same building where they ended the 2019-20 conference season, just before the rest of the season was canceled.

That gives the Jayhawks less than a week to fine-tune the things they need to address — setting the rotation, defensive intensity for 40 minutes and consistent play in the post, among other things — before they head into a stretch of Big 12 games that, on paper, looks as daunting as any three-game stretch that any team in America will face.

You thought Gonzaga, Kentucky and Creighton was bad, with their No. 1, No. 21 and No. 15 KenPom.com rankings when KU faced those programs in the season’s first six games?

KU’s first three Big 12 foes currently carry KenPom rankings of No. 4 (vs. Texas on Jan. 2), No. 6 (vs. West Virginia on Dec. 22) and No. 8 (Texas Tech).

The good news for KU is that two of the three games are at home. The better news is the Jayhawks will get 10 days to rest and prep between games 2 and 3. That should only help relieve the physical toll that this sprint to start the season has taken and in terms of allowing the Jayhawks the time they need to self-scout and round into form for the January and February grind that is the Big 12 schedule.

Here’s the crazy thing about the Big 12 this season: It’s so loaded and well respected by KenPom, that the Jayhawks actually have another three-game stretch that’s even tougher on paper. At least as of today.

KU is scheduled to close the regular season with three straight games against Texas Tech, Texas and Baylor, with the Tech and Baylor games both at home.

That trio is ranked No. 8, No. 4 and No. 2 in the current KenPom rankings. Who knows where they’ll be when those games finally roll around in late February, though.

For now, we’re talking about what’s on the immediate horizon, and the three games KU has scheduled to close 2020 and kickoff 2021 are as tough as you’ll find.

Those games also will go a long way in determining where this Kansas team stands in a conference race that figures to be an absolute battle from start to finish.

Now that the fifth-ranked Jayhawks (6-1) have rolled over Omaha and Sunday’s contest against longtime Self friend Billy Gillispie and Tarleton State has been canceled, it’s full-speed ahead into conference play.

“I think that is pretty impressive that we found a way to grind it out and different guys contributed in different ways,” Self said of KU emerging from a season-opening stretch of seven games in 16 days with just one loss. “But we can’t take a breath now. The games that really matter start in Lubbock (next) Thursday (and) we’ve got a lot of stuff we’ve got to improve on before we’re ready to take on those first two league games.”