The excitement surrounding Kansas’ run to the Women’s NIT championship consumed Lawrence, spread east to Kansas City and swept across the vast state of Texas into the cities of Houston and San Antonio.

From those locations, five Kansas recruits for next season sent coach Bonnie Henrickson texts, the anticipation of building upon that success requiring communication with their soon-to-be coach.

And that same feeling is one shared by fans, players and, yes, even Henrickson.

“I’ve never been more excited about the program than I am right now,” Henrickson said. “And I honestly felt that way during the middle of that run.”

Sure, Kansas’ turnaround in which the Jayhawks won nine of their final 12 games was impressive and well received by the community.

But don’t be fooled. Kansas expects bigger and better things next year. The Jayhawks sensed the NCAA tournament was within their grasp this season. Next year, Henrickson and players expect to be playing in it.

“Our expectation — and my hope — is that we play with a sense of urgency every single night and that makes us a better basketball team,” Henrickson said. “But to make the NCAA tournament and then not just to get in it.”

For much of this season, though, an invitation to any tournament seemed doubtful. Kansas started conference play 2-9 and the season seemed to be slipping away.

Junior guard Sade Morris suffered an injury, junior forward Danielle McCray suffered a slump and the Jayhawks as a whole suffered through another losing conference season.

“We weren’t worth a nickel in December and January” Henrickson said. “I thought we shot ourselves in the foot and underachieved. That’s what is most disappointing.”

Yet, Kansas defeated then-No. 21 Iowa State at home on Feb. 22 and followed that with a road victory against Oklahoma State three days later.

Suddenly, and rather improbably, the Jayhawks turned from bottom of the Big 12 to one of the final teams left out of the NCAA tournament.

“Nobody even thought we’d get this far when we started losing games we shouldn’t have lost,” Morris said moments after Kansas’ 75-71 loss to South Florida in the WNIT championship. “Then, we went on that stretch but we didn’t make it to the NCAA tournament. And then nobody knew how far we’d go in this tournament. Yeah, it sucks we lost the championship and yeah it’s going to hurt for a while. But look how far we came.”

Experience, something the Jayhawks lacked in the past, will serve as one of Kansas’ greatest strengths after playing meaningful games into April this year.

That finish, along with the fact that Kansas returns four of five starters, including their top eight scorers, leaves Henrickson and her players eagerly optimistic for next season.

“We got the most bang out of our buck so to speak in the WNIT,” Henrickson said. “That run in February created a lot of momentum through March and into April.”

— — Edited by Realle Roth