At most schools basketball season is over. It ends the minute the team gets knocked out of its postseason tournament and no one cares anymore.

Not in Lawrence. Plenty of talk still surrounds the Jayhawks. Everyone is interested in the future. That’s part of what makes Kansas so special. To join in on the fun, here are 15 Kansas basketball related predictions:

1. Sherron Collins stays. He never really gets that close to declaring for the NBA Draft. Collins’ draft stock — he’s the No. 49 prospect according to ESPN.com’s Chad Ford — isn’t high enough to think about it.

2. Cole Aldrich stays. His flirtation with the NBA Draft gets a little more serious than Collins’. But Aldrich enjoys the college experience and has enough to improve on that he will be back.

3. Remember the Sports Illustrated cover before the 2006-2007 season with Julian Wright and Mario Chalmers? Yeah, expect a similar one next November with Collins and Aldrich. The Jayhawks will be the preseason No. 1 team in America.

4. In 2015, Sherron Collins’ jersey is retired. Collins only has to wait Bill Self’s minimum five years before the ceremony and he will be the first player on the 2008 national championship team to receive the honor.

5. While we’re on the subject of looking too far ahead, here’s the earliest possible 2010 Final Four prediction: Kansas, Duke, Texas and Villanova in Indianapolis.

6. Xavier Henry winds up at Kansas. He’s been Kansas’ top target all along and Self won’t miss a second chance at the 6-foot-5 guard from Oklahoma City.

7. Lance Stephenson winds up somewhere else. Maybe not even Maryland or St. John’s. The kid is unpredictable. John Calipari could stage a late courting at Kentucky if he misses out on Henry.

8. John Wall winds up at Baylor. Don’t forget, the Bears hired Dwon Clifton, Wall’s AAU coach, as an assistant coach. Clifton can use the Calipari situation as a diversion to once again sell Wall on Waco, Texas.

9. Pundits start mentioning Bill Self’s name with the vacant Oklahoma City Thunder coaching job at the end of the NBA season. A chance to go home for Self. Tons of young talent on the roster. And, no chance. Self is not going anywhere.

10. Behind the direction of coach Mike Anderson, Missouri returns the Border Showdown basketball rivalry to relevance for the next 10 years.

11. Behind the direction of coach Frank Martin, Kansas State keeps the Sunflower Showdown basketball rivalry irrelevant for the next 10 years.

12. Jayhawk assistant coach Joe Dooley is hired as a head coach somewhere within the next three years. He was already listed on Virginia Commonwealth’s short list this season before it hired Florida assistant coach Shaka Smart Thursday.

13. Either sophomore Travis Releford or freshman Elijah Johnson takes a redshirt next season. One of those two will likely be the seventh guard option — the same position Brady Morningstar was in during the 2007-2008 season when he sat out.

14. Former Jayhawk Mario Chalmers plays his best basketball in the NBA playoffs in a couple of weeks. Along with Dwyane Wade, Chalmers leads the Miami Heat to a first round upset against whomever they play.

15. Until Late Night in the Phog in six months you will have at least one conversation about each of the previous 14 topics. It’s Kansas. That’s what happens.

— — Edited by Chris Hickerson