Kansas head coach Bill Self talks to his players with the game close and little time remaining in regulation on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Bill Self will still stare down and/or bark at a player who just blew a defensive assignment in transition in the heat of a game. But the Kansas basketball coach finds himself becoming less stern in his overall approach during his 18th season with the Jayhawks.

In normal, non-pandemic times, Self might have lit into his team and called out specific individuals as a motivating tactic with KU at 4-4 in the Big 12 after losing three straight games.

Obviously KU’s current tied for fifth status in the conference standings isn’t the only unfamiliar condition with which Self and his staff are dealing.

“The coaching, I don’t think from a tactical standpoint is different,” Self said during a Wednesday video press conference. “But maybe your approach in not coming down too hard is a little bit different this year than in years past.”

That adjustment is the result of “the crazy year this has been,” Self said of playing college basketball during a pandemic. His change of heart has everything to do with considering the psychology of the players and nothing to do with Self softening his typical stance in his 28th season as a head coach.

With the players having to spend so much of their time isolated, and playing in games where there’s “no energy” in the crowd, and all the while the 18- to 22-year-olds seeing next to no one other than their teammates and coaches, Self described the challenges of recovering from a loss or a string of losses.

“The reward for our guys is not to go back to their dorm and hang out. No, the reward for the guys is go hang out with the same guys that you just got your butt beat with,” Self said. “Eat in the room. Socially distance with your own teammates in your room. Play video games. And get it all started with ‘Groundhog Day’ the next day.”

With the Jayhawks stuck in a loop like Phil Connors in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Self figured out he shouldn’t be compounding their issues with his typical motivational approaches.

A few years ago, Self might have jumped all over his players if they were 2-4 in January.

“I don’t know that that’s the way that you do it as much this year,” Self shared. “Because I don’t think the guys have a release, so to speak.”

Previously, a group looking to bond or get away from basketball for a couple hours could, as Self brought up, go to a movie or go out for dinner or go any number of places just to bond or unwind.

“If our guys had a team meeting they would have to do it wearing face masks and sitting 6 feet apart from each other, let alone going out to a wing place and eating a thousand wings and hanging out,” Self said.

Credit Self for adjusting accordingly upon recognizing that these aren’t normal circumstances for the young men he’s coaching.

He’s not one to a coddle players or massage their egos. But he’s flexible enough to understand the benefits of changing his style — at least a little bit.

“In years past you don’t care. You don’t care if you upset somebody, make somebody mad, who cares?” Self said. “You know they’re going to come back and fight the next day and everybody’s got a fresh attitude and all that kind of stuff. This year it’s a little bit different.”