Why the Kansas Jayhawks’ most important development wasn’t lifting the Big 12 trophy

The commissioner of the Big 12 Conference strolled to mid-court, a glass trophy in his hands, and as the T-Mobile Center public address system announced the league’s player of the year, Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji lurched a couple of steps forward.

Over his left shoulder, Remy Martin stood in the background, clapping his hands together and motioning toward the crowd for a louder ovation. This was his award, or at least it was supposed to be before the season started, before this turned into Agbaji’s team and then Agbaji’s conference.

Two days later, in the final tune-up for the NCAA Tournament, Martin stole it all back.

Martin scored 12 points off the bench Saturday, returned himself to the spotlight and then returned KU to the net-cutting ladders of the Big 12 championship — a 74-65 win against Texas Tech that does not happen without the new backup point guard.

And suddenly, on the eve of Selection Sunday, Bill Self has one of them good problems.

Martin is healthy again after a knee injury robbed him of much of the conference schedule in his lone year in Lawrence. His balky knee is once more the launching pad for the burst he worried wouldn’t return.

He is the quickest player on a team that wants to plays quick. Even sharing a roster with the guy who raised that glass trophy earlier this week, Martin is KU’s best go-get-a-bucket guy. The one who, as Self put it, “can allow you to have good possession even though you don’t really run good stuff.”

And he might as well have been describing the difficult moments certain to be part of an NCAA Tournament.

Self needed to utilize this week to see what Martin might offer him in the next few. That answer has changed. It’s obvious to say this team has a taller ceiling than it did just 24 hours earlier, not because it lifted its 12th Big 12 Conference Tournament trophy, but rather because of why it took that stage.

Martin’s explosiveness is something the Jayhawks had prepared to play without this March, because, frankly, they literally did play without it for the most critical stretch of their season. As one player falls behind, the schedule marches on.

Two weeks ago, Martin said he could sense during practice that he might be back. That the knee injury might, at long last, be behind him.

After it came together in downtown Kansas City, the aftermath presents an interesting dynamic for the bigger tournament that awaits in the coming week.

Was that a one-off?

Or did we just watch a player rediscover his game — and his burst — at the right time?

Because it sure looked like the latter. If you had parachuted into the T-Mobile Center to watch KU for the first time Saturday, you would’ve pegged Martin as this team’s Alpha, as its personality, its pulse.

On Saturday, Self had little choice but to ride with Martin in the first half after starting point guard Dajuan Harris picked up his second foul. Martin played because he had to.

One half later, he played because of preference, Harris relegated to a spectator on the bench.

And you know what? The Jayhawks were better.

Better than they have been lately.

Better than it appeared they were capable of being. A day ago, KU had the makings of a team that should advance to the second weekend of the tournament and could advance to the Final Four.

Up the ante now. KU just beat one of the nation’s 15 best basketball teams despite making five of 22 three-pointers. They’ve not shot it worse in a win all season.

This wasn’t supposed to be part of their equation because Martin hasn’t been part of their equation. Not really, anyway. He is indeed the difference-maker they envisioned when he signed on last summer.

We’ve been waiting.

It’s more than his scoring, too. A bounce pass to Jalen Wilson in traffic might have been his best play. It led to a layup. He stole two possessions from Texas Tech in the second half — one when he stepped in front of the inbound and another when he put his face in the mix to obtain a loose ball near halfcourt.

“He brings a different element to our team,” teammate Christian Braun said.

When he’s out there. It’s important to note that just two days earlier, Self left Martin on his bench for most of the second half because he “wasn’t as engaged.”

Can’t happen now.

This journey can still have the same conclusion that Self, Martin and the Jayhawks always planned, even if took a detour along the way.

In the closing seconds Saturday, as KU dribbled out the clock, Braun sought out Martin. The two high-fived, the initial celebrations of a championship before a stage was wheeled onto the floor. Then Braun offered a few words.

“That,” Braun would later recall saying to Martin, “is what you came here for.”