Absences for W.Va., Kansas keenly felt

Take the eight players combined that West Virginia and Kansas currently have sitting on the bench — or at home — and you’d have a team capable of winning the Big 12 title this season. Maybe even the NCAA title.

You’d have a bruising 7-footer in Udoka Azubuike and shot blocker extraordinaire in Sagaba Konate. You’d have strong forwards in Wesley Harris and Silvio De Sousa. Marcus Garrett would provide a lockdown defender, Esa Ahmad some experience, and Beetle Bolden and Lagerald Vick would handle the rock.

That’s an eight-man rotation that was piling up an average of nearly 82 points per game this season, one that could rebound and defend and provide the intangibles.

No wonder Bob Huggins and Bill Self have been stressed out lately.

The Mountaineers (1014, 2-9) were already without Konate, who has been dealing with a knee injury the last 15 games, and Bolden, out the last four with an ankle injury. But just this week Huggins kicked Harris and Ahmad out of the program for violating team rules, leaving him with a vastly different roster as West Virginia heads to Allen Fieldhouse to face the No. 14 Jayhawks (19-6, 18-4) on Saturday.

“It’s completely different,” he acknowledged. “We’ve lost the guys who have really been the leaders, so those other guys are going to have to step up.”

The Jayhawks, meanwhile, have been without De Sousa all season, though only recently did the NCAA confirm his ineligibility due to impermissible benefits. Azubuike has been gone for a couple of weeks after the big man needed surgery for a hand injury. Garrett is still recovering from a high ankle sprain.

Vick is on indefinite leave to deal with personal issues, and several people close to the program speculated this week that the senior guard may not return at all.

“The key thing is guys kind of figuring out how we are going to play and understanding their role in how we are going to play,” Self said. “I kind of like where we’re at, I think it has been fun.”