Bill Self -- Shorthanded Kansas' lack of firepower was evident - ESPN

SALT LAKE CITY — By the time the horn sounded on No. 4 Kansas' 89-68 blowout loss to No. 5 Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA tournament Saturday, Jayhawks coach Bill Self said he had long been preparing for next season.

That's what happens when you have only eight healthy scholarship players left on your roster, as Self pointed out after the game at Delta Center.

«I think for the last month, I've been thinking about next season, to be honest,» said Self, whose team lost four of five games entering the tournament and again was without star Kevin McCullar Jr. «Not in the moments during the game, but obviously, we played — we had eight guys on scholarship, and we play — I mean, that were healthy there late. Injuries are part of the game. That's not an excuse.

»But we could have done a much better job as a staff of putting more guys out there that we could play, and so that's something that I've thought about for a long time. The thing about it is, in basketball, early on you can play through some things. But the course of a season, there's a grind that goes with it and bodies get run down, injuries occur. It's all part of it. When you don't have as much firepower or that maybe you've had in past years, it certainly showed this year."

And it was evident Saturday.

After Kansas led 44-43 at halftime in what Self described as a «horse contest,» the Jayhawks ran out of, well, everything in the second half. Out of energy, they were outscored 46-24 in the last 20 minutes.

«My guys were gassed,» Self said. «Everybody knew that at the end of the first half. I mean, my guys were gassed.

»I hadn't had very many times where you take a guy out and he's sitting through a three-minute timeout and I say, 'Go back in,' and he says, 'I