Bill Self isn’t lining up to send Kansas basketball overseas for a regular-season game anytime soon.
After the Kansas football team’s trip to London for the Union Jack Classic, Self was asked Wednesday whether he’d welcome something similar for the Jayhawks men’s basketball program. His answer was blunt.
“Absolutely not,” he said on Wednesday. “I would never do that.
Basketball season is too short, so you could go over there and I think it could wipe you out for two or three weeks. (The football team is) waiting two weeks to play their next game, which is smart.
You can’t do that in basketball season.”
Kansas football’s Wembley Stadium visit brought in $2.7 million, landed the Jayhawks on “Big Noon Kickoff” and gave players and staff a memorable international trip, even if the result wasn’t what they wanted in a loss to Arizona State. Athletic director Travis Goff said KU is now “thirsting” for more chances like that. Self, though, drew a hard line when it comes to in-season hoops.
The basketball calendar, as he pointed out, moves too fast to absorb the kind of travel adjustment football can handle. The Baylor women’s team had a little more than six days before its next game when it played Duke in Paris to open last season, but Self said that kind of window just doesn’t fit the grind of a basketball season.
Kansas once appeared headed toward an international basketball event of its own. The men’s and women’s teams were scheduled to play Houston in Mexico City in December 2024, but the Big 12 postponed the plan and still has not staged a sporting event in Mexico. Self and Houston coach Kelvin Sampson both opposed the idea then, and Self said Wednesday he is not aware of any move to bring it back.
He also revisited another Big 12 decision he wasn’t fond of: the league’s brief push to 20 conference games for the 2024-25 season. Self objected at the time because it cut into nonconference scheduling possibilities and left less runway for younger players to adjust to college basketball.
The league has since returned to 18 conference games for 2025-26 and 2026-27, though the overall season has expanded to 32 games. Now, according to reports, the Big 12 is again pushing for 20.
Self said it remains “one of the discussion points,” but his preference is still 18.
“With us, we can schedule good games,” he said. “So I’d rather play 18, but I don’t think that’s been settled on yet.”
That flexibility matters at Kansas, where a big nonconference game at Allen Fieldhouse can be more lucrative than the same kind of matchup would be for many league programs.
KU’s upcoming schedule already carries plenty of weight. The Jayhawks will open their fall exhibition slate with Pittsburg State on Oct. 16 in the newly redesigned Late Night in the Phog, then face Louisville on Oct. 21 and Duke on Oct.
- The Louisville game completes a preseason home-and-home that began at the KFC Yum!
Center last fall, while the Duke matchup launches a new home-and-home the schools are calling the Blue Blood Classic.
Self said KU “can make some real money” from the Duke game because it is not included in the season-ticket package.
The nonconference schedule has been set for a while, and the Big 12 released league slates recently. Self said the Jayhawks’ overall schedule looks tough, especially on the road. Kansas will travel to UConn in December and then has trips to Utah, BYU, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Houston, Iowa State, Arizona, TCU and Baylor over the next several months.
There is also a chance Kansas could run into conference opponents before the calendar turns to 2027. West Virginia and Houston are both in KU’s Players Era bracket and could meet the Jayhawks in Las Vegas.
Self said that possibility doesn’t worry him much, noting that Kansas plays each Big 12 team only once in league play. He added that during his time at Illinois, the Illini wound up facing Arizona three times in one season: once in a previously scheduled game, once in the Maui Invitational and once in the NCAA Tournament.
“So I don’t look at that that much - that doesn’t mean that much to me,” he said.
In Other News...
Kansas May Have Found A New Identity At The Perfect Time
Kansas spent Saturday looking like a team that might finally know who it wants to be. The offense rolled to a program-record 706 yards in the 55-0 win over Middle Tennessee State, but the more revealing part of the afternoon was how firmly the defense controlled the game while the passing attack and ground game kept the other sideline buried. Through the first four games, first-year coordinator D.K. McDonalds unit has been the steadier side of the ball, even as the offense has gone through its own uneven stretches.
Middle Tennessee never found a rhythm, forced into repeated punts and kept from building any real momentum once the game settled in. For Kansas, that kind of balance matters because it suggests the Jayhawks may have found a version of themselves that can travel better than a shootout script, especially when the offense is clicking and the defense is no longer just trying to hold on. The question now is whether this was a one-week statement or the start of something more durable. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Just Delivered The Kind Of Win Fans Needed
Kansas finally got the kind of comfortable Saturday it has been chasing, rolling past Middle Tennessee 55-0 in a performance that touched every part of the roster. Dylan Edwards gave the offense an early jolt with 137 rushing yards and three touchdowns, while Isaiah Marshall helped keep the tempo moving with production on the ground and through the air. It was the sort of one-sided win that lets a team breathe a little, build some confidence and see its playmakers make a difference.
The bigger picture was just as encouraging on the other side of the ball, where Kansas turned in a suffocating defensive effort and allowed only seven first downs. Middle Tennessee never found much rhythm, managing just 3.2 yards per play, and the Jayhawks left no doubt by finishing the day with a shutout. For a program that has been looking for cleaner, more complete outings, this was the kind of response fans had been waiting to see. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas Fans Suddenly Have Real Reason To Watch Melvin Council Jr
Melvin Council Jr. is back in the conversation after a New York judge granted him a preliminary injunction, giving him the chance to pursue a collegiate basketball opportunity while his case moves forward. For Kansas, that alone is enough to make the situation worth watching, especially with Council already having played for the Jayhawks and a possible return hinging on whether he clears eligibility under the Big 12s new rules.
The buzz around his next move has been loud on social media, with speculation tying him to several high-profile programs, but the actual picture is far murkier than the chatter suggests. For Kansas fans, the real intrigue is whether this becomes a reunion rather than a recruiting chase, and whether the Jayhawks end up with the clearest path if Council is ultimately allowed back on the floor. [Read more 🡒]