As the Kansas players exited their locker room at the Lloyd Noble Center last Monday after a victory against Oklahoma, Kansas coach Bill Self made sure to find Sherron Collins.

Self wanted to congratulate Collins. Self wanted to emphasize to Collins, a junior guard, how much his 26 points and five three-pointers meant to the Jayhawks.

“I told Sherron, ‘Hey, down the stretch, that’s as good as I’ve ever seen you,’” Self said. “The first thing out of his mouth was, ‘How good was the freshman?’”

“The freshman” is guard Tyshawn Taylor, who matched Collins’ output with 26 points and kept the Jayhawks afloat in the first half of the victory. Taylor was the same freshman who Self said was in a “funk” in the three games before where he only averaged four points.

Moments after Self and Collins’ exchange, Taylor walked out of the locker room and in part credited his performance to advice given from Collins.

“He just tells me to keep my head up, stop thinking and just play,” Taylor said. “That’s what I did tonight.”

This is the relationship between Collins and Taylor at its best. As willing as they are to talk about themselves, they’d just as happily discuss each other. Collins says they have a brotherly relationship. Teammates have called it everything from best friends to father-son.

No matter how they describe it, their relationship is working. Collins has served as the Jayhawks’ leader all season and won his second straight Phillips 66 Big 12 Player of the Week Award this week for his combined 51 points in the victories against Oklahoma and Missouri.

The Big 12 awarded Taylor with his fourth Rookie of the Week honor for scoring 41 points in those two games. Collins and Taylor will be featured once again tonight when No. 9 Kansas takes on Texas Tech at 8:30 p.m. in Lubbock, Texas, for an opportunity to clinch a share of the Big 12 regular season title.

If Taylor plays well, he’ll find himself answering more questions about Collins’ influence. Self is fine with that, but he wants to make it clear that their camaraderie is nothing new.

“He scores 26 points in one game and all of a sudden, their relationship is different. That’s not how it works.” Self said. “His relationship with him doesn’t change week to week.”

*****

Taylor will list a number of reasons why he ended up choosing to attend Kansas.

Collins will be more precise.

“I was probably 80 percent of his choice coming here,” Collins said.

Pretty impressive considering the two met only a week before Taylor committed at the end of last April. Taylor took his official visit to Kansas two weeks after it won the national championship last year.

Marquette released Taylor from his letter of intent after coach Tom Crean left to become the coach at Indiana. Kansas was one of the schools Taylor decided to visit after his de-commitment.

His official visit was eventful, to say the least. Taylor met all the Kansas coaches. He watched a specially prepared national championship video. He looked around Lawrence.

But one thing on the visit was constant — Taylor said Collins was “the person with me the whole time.” In other words, Collins was Taylor’s host.

When Taylor went home to Jersey City, N.J., Collins called him. He wanted there to be no doubt in Taylor’s mind about how much the Jayhawks wanted him. Less than a week later Taylor chose Kansas over Georgia Tech.

“He’s just a special kid,” Collins said before the season. “I’m learning to love him.”

After Taylor committed, the calls and texts didn’t stop coming. The two kept in touch until Taylor arrived on campus for summer classes in June.

By then it was established that the two would be close. Leading up to the season, they became even closer.

“We do everything together,” Collins said. “From haircuts to shopping, it’s just me and him.”

Collins and Taylor connected. They had similar backgrounds. Both were from big cities — Collins from Chicago and Taylor just outside of New York City. Both lived in rougher areas of those cities. Both grew up without their fathers around.

Collins understood Taylor. So when Self was particularly hard on him during practices at the beginning of the season Collins knew how to deal with it. He often pulled Taylor aside in the middle of drills and helped him.

“This is his third year here so he knows what I’m going through when I’m having trouble,” Taylor said. “He knows how to handle Coach so when Coach gets on me, he tells me to keep my head up.”

But Taylor didn’t know how to handle it when Collins chastised him.

*****

They don’t remember the specifics. Or at least they won’t discuss them.

Some time during Kansas’ nonconference season, Taylor was having a bad practice. And Collins had no comfort to offer. He was angry.

Collins said Taylor wasn’t exerting full effort and went into “freshman mode” — something he usually doesn’t do. Collins confronted him.

“We got into a little tussle, a little altercation. We walked into each other’s faces,” Collins said. “That’s what happens. It’s just like brothers. Brothers fight. Brothers get into it and argue.”

They both spoke their minds and moved on. Since then, neither can remember any negative incidents.

“We feud sometimes,” Taylor said. “That’s what we do. We’re competitive players.”

Senior center Matt Kleinmann remembered the showdown between Collins and Taylor. He said it was no big deal and something that happened on a team more often than people realized.

That it hasn’t happened again has Kleinmann thinking it was a necessary step in the maturation of their relationship.

“Over time, Tyshawn has realized Sherron is looking out for what’s best for him,” Kleinmann said. “Sherron has realized how to get guys involved in the right way.”

Kleinmann said Taylor’s presence had helped Collins grow into the best leader Kansas has had in years. Believe it or not, it didn’t come naturally to Collins.

“When it first started, Sherron wasn’t quite sure how to be a leader. He’d be the first one to admit that he didn’t know how to talk to guys and encourage them the right way,” Kleinmann said. “There were a couple times when Tyshawn was like, ‘You’re coming at me and no one else. You’re trying to get me to play better and you’re not talking to Cole or anyone.’”

Now, Collins is comfortable approaching anyone. And Taylor never gets frustrated with Collins’ criticisms.

*****

Well, maybe he does when they play video games.

When Taylor needs an escape from basketball, he likes going to Collins’ Jayhawker Towers room and relaxing with a game. Collins particularly enjoys EA Sports’ NCAA Basketball ’09.

“We just chill out,” Taylor said.

Maybe those sessions have something to do with Taylor’s sudden breakout. In the past two games, Taylor has cemented his role as the Jayhawks’ third scorer — behind Collins and sophomore center Cole Aldrich — and increased his average to 10 points per game.

Taylor leads all Big 12 freshmen with 89 assists and is second in steals with 32. Collns, of course, was not surprised to see Taylor’s slump end.

“His confidence is high,” Collins said as he grinned and glanced back at Taylor, who was laughing with reporters. “Look at him now — he’s loose and he’s back to his old self. That’s something good for us. We need it.”

As much as Taylor is enjoying his success, Self knows Collins is just as happy.

“Sherron is so proud of his progress,” Self said. “Sherron lets him know all the time how good he can be.”

Sounds like brothers.

— — Edited by Chris Hickerson