With a few weeks remaining in her first season at Kansas, coach Bonnie Henrickson received a phone call that would have shocked most Jayhawk fans before the season began.

A representative from the National Invitation Tournament told her that the Jayhawks had a good shot at being selected for this year’s tournament if they could get their record to at least .500, a requirement needed to be eligible.

After Jayhawk fans endured four consecutive losing seasons and a combined record of 37-79, expectations were not high for this year’s team, which ended last season on a 10-game losing streak and a 2-14 record in conference play. But Henrickson and her staff’s progress with the team this year has left the possibility of the NIT within reach.

The Jayhawks were unable to get the required number of victories to compete in the NIT, finishing the season at 12-16. Still, that can’t take away from the successful season that the Jayhawks had, Henrickson said.

“We’re very excited about the growth and progress that we made this season,” Henrickson said. “It was definitely a step in the right direction.”

Success is nothing new to Henrickson, who made the postseason seven consecutive seasons at Virginia Tech and compiled a 158-62 record before leaving to become the coach at Kansas. She was the Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year and a finalist for the National Coach of the Year in 1999. She averaged 23 victories per season, and won two conference championships. It’s a weird feeling not playing in one of the postseason tournaments, she said.

“It was a bit difficult, as you might imagine,” Henrickson said. “Usually we’re preparing for the NCAA tournament once the conference tournament ends, so that was different. We got right into recruiting and I was even able to a take a vacation. It wasn’t easy, but I’m not going to sit and dwell on it and look past the growth that we made this season.”

Henrickson has some experience turning programs around. When she became Virginia Tech’s coach in 1997, she had the task of rebuilding a team that finished last in the Atlantic 10 with a 10-21 record. She overcame the challenge and led the Hokies to a 22-10 record, the school’s first conference title and an NCAA second-round appearance in her first season.

Coaches throughout the Big 12 Conference already have noticed the improvement of the Jayhawks, and are ready to give Henrickson all the credit.

“The improvement of the Kansas team from last year to this year is nothing short of phenomenal,” Oklahoma Coach Sherri Coale said. “Bonnie has been able to do so much with them. She has done a remarkable job.”

Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson, whose team won the national championship on Tuesday, said she noticed a difference in the energy level of the Kansas players. That is a key in turning programs around, she said.

“What happens when you have a new staff is that you get a renewed sense of enthusiasm and energy from your players,” Mulkey-Robertson said. “I feel like, from an outsider looking in, that is what Bonnie is getting. She is getting effort, they are executing offenses and they are really exploiting each other’s individual strength. She’s to be commended for the job that she has done in a short period of time.”

The Jayhawks’ confidence level was a big factor in Henrickson’s ability to turn the team around. Soon after she was hired, she said she met with the team and was amazed by what she heard. Even after enduring losing seasons throughout their entire careers at Kansas, her players said they thought they could be successful right away, she said.

“When we met with this group for the first time, it was very clear how much they expected to be successful,” Henrickson said. “They believed that they could win, which was surprising to me after the careers they have had here.”

Henrickson and her team played a number of close games this season. They only had two games with first-half blowouts and were a few plays away from a number of upsets. Once again, the players’ mindset was the key, Henrickson said.

“Their mentality coming in allowed us to go up to Minnesota and start the game on a 19-4 run,” Henrickson said, referring to the Jayhawks road game of the season against the nationally-ranked Golden Gophers. “We had a couple nights where we didn’t have any focus or energy, but we never played scared.”

Had Kansas won close games against ranked teams Minnesota, Texas, Kansas State and Iowa State, it could have been doing the unthinkable — playing in the postseason.

“Down the stretch, these kids thought they had a chance to make a run and go into the postseason as far as the NIT,” Henrickson said. “We didn’t sit there and shake our heads and say the kids aren’t realistic and they don’t understand. We realized that if they believed they could be successful, we needed to teach them how to be successful and what it takes to be successful.”

For a successful coach, enduring a season like this past one could have been tough, but Henrickson said the Jayhawks achieved the goals she set out for them before the season began. She said she set general goals for the program, not a set number of victories.

“It’s hard for me to ever say we’re going to lose a game before the game even starts,” she said. “As far as the number of wins I thought we could get to, I really don’t know. We just wanted to change the culture of the program and get better every day. We wanted to change the attitude of everyone involved, and get everyone believing in the system and style of play that we play, and I think we did that.”

Expectations are much higher for next year’s team.

“We were very pleased with the amount of growth we made this season,” Henrickson said. “Our players need to understand, though, that we need just as much, if not more, growth next year if we want to be successful.”

The Jayhawks appear to be a team primed for success, even the possibility of postseason play. Henrickson sent her Virginia Tech teams to the postseason seven years in a row, and she looks well on her way to leading the Jayhawks there again.

The next time her phone rings in February, Henrickson hopes she will be able to accept the invitation to take her team dancing in March.