Another memorable Kansas season ends short of Final 4

LAWRENCE, Kan. Frank Mason III and Landen Lucas will be lost to graduation, Josh Jackson is likely headed to the NBA, and very little about Kansas next season will look remotely the same.

That only makes harder.

After a frustrating loss to Oregon in the Midwest Regional semifinals ended the Jayhawks’ season a week earlier than they had hoped, the only thing they want to do is look to the future.

Yet that gaze is met so much uncertainty.

“I don’t really know. It’s my first time being in this position,” Jackson said in a morose locker room shortly after the Ducks punched their ticket to the Final Four things with with a Sprint night.

“It hurts more to see guys around me. Just seeing the seniors. We really wanted to send them out the rightway. It just hurts we couldn’t do that.”

The reality is this: Kansas won 31 games and its 13th consecutive Big 12 championship.

But the perceptionamong many will be this: The Jayhawks’ season was a failure because they lost in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament, and then blew a chance to make it back to the Final Four on a night where their offense suddenly cooled off and their defense never showed up.

That brings the spotlight to coach Bill Self.

He has won more conference championships than he 74-60 victory at the Center on Saturday has lostgamesat Allen Fieldhouse. He has a national title to his credit and another runner-up. He has sent numerous players to the pros, fromtheMorris twins toAndrewWiggins and Joel Embiid. And he has guided the JayhawkstomoreNo.1seeds in the NCAA Tournament than just about any coach in the country.

The loss to the Ducks left Self just 2-5 in Elite Eight games, the last four losses coming as the top-seeded team. Throw in losses while at Tulsa and Illinois and he’s 2-7 in regional finals.

“They all stick with me and they’ll stick with the players that have been a part of it,” Self said. “I’m disappointed more for them than I am for me. These guys put us in a situation to play for the highest stakes, and we came up short.”