LAWRENCE — Kansas men’s basketball, as well as its fellow Big 12 Conference programs, is going to be submitting player availability reports during the upcoming 2025-26 season.
The Big 12 announced the decision recently and outlined that the policy applies to league contests for women’s basketball and football as well. When it comes to basketball, teams are going to be required to update their reports the night before each game and 90 minutes before tip-off — available for viewing at Big12Sports.com with designations of available, game-time decision, or out.
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And on Friday, Jayhawks men’s coach Bill Self reacted to the news.
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“I think that’s great,” Self said. “The way it’s worked in the past, gamesmanship or whatever, ‘Well, he’s not going to play, but let’s not let the other team know until warmups or whatever.’ Which, to me, is ridiculous. But I think that will be a positive requirement. I don’t know how it all works. There’s still going to be guys that are game-time decisions, I mean, there’s still going to be things like that. But I think that’s actually a good thing.”
Self further outlined, though, that people should call it like it is and acknowledge that this is more important now than ever because of gambling. He said he doesn’t know if it will affect him or how he will operate, or how it will affect coaches. But he does think it could affect someone who wants to decide tip-off based on who’s going to be out on the court.
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Self’s team’s regular season opens with non-conference play, which begins Nov. 3 at home against Green Bay. Some of the marquee matchups include a Nov. 7 road game at North Carolina, Nov. 18 neutral-site game against Duke in the State Farm Champions Classic, the Players Era event in late November in Las Vegas, Dec. 2 home game against UConn, Dec. 7 neutral-site game against Missouri, and Dec. 13 road game at NC State.
KU knows which teams it will face in Big 12 play, and where, but that final schedule has not yet been released.
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self looks out at his players after a play against Arizona State in a game inside Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 8, 2025.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas basketball coach Bill Self Big 12 player availability reports
