There are a dozen differences between the Kansas women’s basketball program and its roster and the KU men’s program, from everything to the size of the ball and style of play to the size of the players, the crowd and quarters versus halves.
But there’s one big difference that came to light on Sunday afternoon after the KU women fell 91-64 to No. 11 Kansas State in front of more than 8,000 fans at Allen Fieldhouse.
And it has everything to do with the future direction of both programs.
Asked after the loss what he saw from his players in the locker room following the game, KU women’s coach Brandon Schneider smiled and asked, “What did I see or what do I want?”
He continued: “I want them to be hurt. And I want them to be embarrassed. Because anytime you take a whooping on your home court, that should sting.”
There’s no doubt it did.
Sophomore guard Laia Conesa had emotional all over her face on the bench in the game’s final seconds. Star sophomore S’Mya Nichols, who was the focal point of K-State’s defensive game plan, could only sit back and watch the final few minutes, somewhat dejected, after being pulled from the game to preserve her energy for the next battle.
None of the players in a KU uniform on Sunday liked being down by almost 40 at one point to their rivals on their home floor and in front of the largest crowd of the season so far. But it was the next part of Schneider’s comment that made that reality so interesting.
“To me, reflecting on this game is even more offseason type of stuff that should be motivating moving forward,” he said.
With the women’s program, that’s a viable option.
With Bill Self’s bunch, it might not be.
Many of the players (most?) on this KU women’s roster will be back next season and ready to roll the next time K-State comes to Lawrence. One can only presume that they’ll remember then the way they felt today and use that as extra fuel for that battle, much like a handful of the Wildcats in the building did on Sunday after losing in Lawrence last season.
Granted, the KU men haven’t suffered a loss quite like the one the women endured on Sunday. But getting beat by 30 in the second half of a game they led by 21 in the first half like Self’s crew did on Saturday had to feel awfully similar.
The big difference was that one was on the road and not against an in-state rival. Baylor and Kansas have developed a pretty nice rivalry, though, and, when you’re the KU men’s team, every game has a way of being and feeling like a big one.
We don’t know what’s going to happen with the KU men’s roster. But if recent history has shown us anything, it’ll have a whole bunch of new faces once again.
Such is life in the transfer portal era. And while that does impact the women’s game and have an effect on women’s programs from coast to coast, there still seems to be a bit of the old way of doing things happening in women’s basketball.
Players develop, programs maintain continuity and the best ones use that to their advantage to build chemistry and a connection that can often be the difference between winning and losing games.
Don’t get me wrong; this KU roster has new faces. Six of the 10 Jayhawks who got into the game against K-State on Sunday were new to the program. But three were freshmen — recruiting often is and definitely still can be the lifeblood of many college programs — and the other three were transfers who you should expect to see around next year, as well.
So, yeah, Elle Evans and Brittany Harshaw and Sania Copeland will remember this one when they suit up against the Wildcats at home next season. Just like Nichols and Conesa and the three freshmen will, as well.
And, together, that group will talk about it in the offseason. Some of them might even circle the date on their calendar when the schedule comes out or hang up the score in their dorm room as a permanent reminder of how this one went and felt.
And then they’ll have a chance to do something about it.
There will be a handful of players on the men’s roster who will be around next year, too, to avenge the losses the Jayhawks have taken and whatever losses are still to come.
So, it’s not like this is some sort of all-or-nothing deal.
But it certainly feels like when it comes to finding continuity from an entire core of a team, the women’s game is in much better position to do that into the future than the men's.
Maybe that’s just a Kansas thing. And maybe that, too, will change in the years ahead.
But, for now, it seems to be one advantage Schneider’s program has and appears to be planning to use.
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