As the national title runner-up, the Kansas Jayhawks enter the 2012 season with high expectations.
The team started off the season with a win against Southeast Missouri State, but is coming off a loss as they welcome the Chattanooga Mocs to Phog Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence on Thursday night.
The Kansas Jayhawks made a run to the national championship last season before falling to the Kentucky Wildcats, but this year's squad looks very different from that one, with nine freshmen joining the roster.
"Our freshmen are going to be good, but they're pretty green and naive," Self said. "They're not the typical heralded freshmen who've had a lot of exposure and are worldly. They've been pretty sheltered. This will be a great learning experience."
Two of those freshmen started the first two games of the season, including in Tuesday's tough 67-64 upset-loss against the Michigan State that was played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
The Jayhawks had a late lead over the Spartans with five minutes left, but the team had trouble protecting the ball and the Spartans rallied.
"We did some good things," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "It's just that games are decided in the last five minutes. And they were better in the last five."
Elijah Johnson led the team with 16 points, while big-man Jeff Withey had seven rebounds. Freshman Ben McLemore had 14 points, but the Jayhawks didn't get much more offense from their starters.
"We've got a long ways to go with competing and understanding how to compete and being tougher mentally and that kind of stuff, but we did some good things," Self said.
Freshman Ben McLemore has been solid for Kansas this season, averaging 11.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and four assists, which leads the team.
The Jayhawks hope a return to Lawrence will tip things back in their favor. Kansas has started off the season a bit sluggishly, ranking in the bottom half of the nation in points per game, rebounds and field goal percentage.
Chattanooga may be the perfect team to meet coming off of a loss. The Mocs have lost 21-stright games to ranked teams and only went 11-21 last season. The team opened the season with a win over Tennessee Temple, but just simply cannot match the talent of Kansas.
Last year the Jayhawks made their 14th Final Four in school history, defeating Ohio State to make it to the championship game.
According to the Associated Press, "Chattanooga, 3-47 all-time against Top 25 opponents and 0-23 on the road, is 0-2 against Kansas. The Mocs fell 90-76 in the most recent matchup Nov. 21, 2003, in Lawrence."
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