Walk down the corridor and into Allen Fieldhouse, then gaze up to the rafters. Row upon row of championship banners stretch from one end to the other, with five large banners at one end for each of the national championships.
Expectations never really change at Kansas.
Some years, like this one, they are just augmented a bit.
The Jayhawks have hung 11 consecutive Big 12 championship banners in those rafters, and the minimum expectation is to make it a dozen this season. But it will have been eight years since they last hung a national title banner, and that is where expectations are hovering these days.
"I have a goal to go to the Final Four," senior forward Perry Ellis said. "We have been in the system and we know what the coaches are expecting. We feel really confident and I can see it."
…But unlike most years at blue-blood programs, whether the Jayhawks return to the Final Four for the first time since 2012 will not be defined by the play of their talented freshmen.
It will be the result of their returning core.
Few national championship contenders have as much experience as Kansas, led by Ellis, who can finish his career as one of the school's career scoring leaders. He could have declared for the NBA last season, but decided that he wanted to return for one more shot at glory.
Another pro prospect, Wayne Selden Jr., decided to stay, too. He'll be joined by a pair of veteran point guards in Frank Mason III and Devonte Graham, sophomore sharpshooter in Svi Mykhailiuk and lanky forward Brannen Greene in the backcourt.
"We've got 12 pretty good guys, and all 12 are not going to play. Ten may not play," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "We have some nice pieces, but the thing I like about it as much as anything is if somebody is not doing what they can to help our team win, it's not going to be that difficult to try to give somebody else an opportunity to do that."
AP
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