The weak progression of opponents Kansas stockpiles on its schedule is a grasp to make as much revenue as possible from home sellouts.

With recent upgrades to Allen Fieldhouse, the dough is especially helpful. But the opposition isn't always what a top-ranked team requires to be sharp.

The ultimate case in point came Dec. 2, when the Jayhawks trailed 4-0 against Alcorn State, then reeled off 36 unanswered points before burying the winless Braves 98-31. The win was the 100th for seventh-year Kansas coach Bill Self in Allen Fieldhouse, but he wasn't celebrating.

"You talk about maturity, and you talk about not playing the scoreboard, and not doing this on a possession, but still, it gets lost in a game like this," Self said. "You don't get a lot of that (game), and I'm not being negative towards them."

Alcorn State is not the only patsy among the nonconference visitors headed for Kansas. Hofstra, Central Arkansas, Oakland, Tennessee Tech, Radford, Belmont and Cornell also come in for handsome guarantees, which still allow KU to make significant cash from home games.

But any road trip is a welcome competitive test, including a Dec. 6 visit to UCLA, even with the Bruins reeling from a last-place finish in the 76 Classic.

Although the nonconference schedule is far from a stern challenge (the toughest test comes Jan. 10 at Tennessee, the last game before Big 12 play starts), Kansas doesn't figure to suffer much from facing overmatched competition.

Self has ways to get his team's attention, and even put the Jayhawks through a couple of grueling practices before the Alcorn State rout. One desired result is establishing a killer mentality, which the Jayhawks expressed after climbing to 6-0.

"The only reason I'd feel bad for Alcorn State is they haven't even played a home game yet," said backup guard Connor Teahan.

The same certainly does not hold true for Kansas.

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