Jay Bilas names Danny Manning as the best Kansas basketball player of all time over Wilt Chamberlain, Paul Pierce

Jay Bilas and ESPN College GameDay is in Lawrence on Saturday, so the Kansas-themed questions dominated the show.

One of the questions Bilas had to answer was who is the best Jayhawks basketball player of all time. With plenty of fantastic options, the ESPN analyst settled on Danny Manning over players like Wilt Chamberlain and Paul Pierce after some serious pondering.

“Best Kansas player of all time,” pondered Bilas. “21 Hall of Famers here, including coaches. I would say — let’s stick modern era. Wilt Chamberlain was the best, but he didn’t play here all four years. Danny Manning was the best Kansas player of all time.”

Alas, Bilas resented that Chamberlain was the best overall basketball player, but Manning’s time at Kansas outweighed Wilt’s.

Regardless, there are plenty of legends for Kansas basketball stars of today to look up to, but it’s easy to see why Jay Bilas believes Danny Manning sits atop the mountain.

Bill Self reveals Kansas’ biggest rival as Big 12 strengthens

In the Big 12 this year, there are truly no days off. The conference ranks No. 1 in adjusted efficiency, according to KenPom, and it looks like it could be well-represented in March Madness.

With that in mind, every game is a big game. Despite that, Kansas coach Bill Self said one matchup stands out above the others: Baylor.

“It’s right at the very top,” Self said during an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. “The Missouri game’s back on board beginning last year, so that’s obviously the biggest non-conference rival. As far as the biggest within our league, K-State, Jerome [Tang], they’ve done such a good job. That’s become even more intense through this year. 

“But when you look at Baylor … they’ve been just as consistent as any team in the country. You take away the COVID year where they would’ve been a one seed — and we would’ve, as well — that’s three one seeds, if I’m not mistaken, in a row. And with a chance, obviously, to do something special again this year, as well. Total respect for what Scott and their staff has done and their players.”

The Baylor game hasn’t always been the biggest one circled on Kansas’ schedule, though. Self said Texas used to be a huge game considering the conference title implications that matchup had.

Even with that, though, Baylor stands out above the rest.

“There was a time when Texas was our biggest rival,” Self said. “Kevin [Durant] was there, all that stuff. It seemed like every conference championship came down to that one game. 

“This year, the leagues are different. Everybody’s a rival. But Baylor ranks right at the top.”

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.