Cliff’s Notes: Bill Self press conference, 1/31/13

Posted by Jesse Newell January 31, 2013 at 12:35 p.m.

Here is the Cliff's Notes version from Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self's comments at his press conference today.

• Self says he thinks there are lower scores in college basketball this year partly because of greater physicality in college basketball. The officials are calling it just fine, but there's more contact than there used to be. Self thinks across America there are more good defensive teams than offensive teams. National scoring averages being down a point per game is a pretty big number, but Self isn't as concerned with that number being down as some others are.

• Self believes Travis Releford might do as much as anyone in the country as far as helping a team win. He's great with intangibles. Releford is shooting well in Big 12 play, and part of that is because he shoots a lot of layups. Self wants him to be aggressive offensively, though that doesn't always means shoot more.

• Self thinks Ben McLemore and Releford ... those wings go from defense to offense better than any other wings in the country.

• Releford is smart defensively. He's a bright kid and knows how to play the scouting report well. Self gets upset when Releford makes a mental mistake, because he doesn't think that should happen with him.

• Self believed before the year that his team had the potential to be great defensively. Self thinks his team can still improve in some areas. Not many teams have Releford- and Jeff Withey-type defensive players. Self says this team is good defensively, but the 2007-08 team was his best defensively. That team had a lot of pieces. It didn't help the helper defensively; it helped the helper's helper. Self hopes this year's defense can get to that level.

• Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart has good size. What Self likes most is how he has changed OSU's personality as a program. He's going to be a pro.

• Oklahoma State made a lot of plays late to beat Iowa State on Wednesday. Self also saw that OSU scored easy late. That doesn't normally happen in late-game situations, where it's usually tougher to get easy shots.

• Self says OSU has four guys that can "go off" on any night offensively: Markel Brown, Le'Bryan Nash, Phil Forte and Smart. Self picked OSU second in the league. From a talent standpoint, OSU might be the best team in the league. It also probably is the most athletic team in the league.

• Ballhandling is a concern for Self. He even joked later, saying, "Hell yes," it was a concern. Self thinks his team sometimes is just careless and lazy. KU has to handle trapping situations better. KU has always been a team that has wanted teams to press it, because it had good guards in the past that loved to break that to get numbers on the other end. To be fair, Self said KU doesn't have the number of ballhandlers this year as it's had in the past. KU needs to a better job of relieving pressure with its bigs. Everyone also needs to be less careless moving forward.

• Self hasn't mentioned the 18-game win streak to the guys. He mentioned the team's national ranking to the guys the other day, telling them to not try to go into protect mode because of it.

• Self is believing that Jeff Withey is starting to get the national attention he deserves. KU has two players at their respective positions (Withey and McLemore) that are playing as well as any players in the country at their positions. One reason Withey's block numbers are going down is because teams aren't attacking him. Teams are taking longer shots, which is fine with Self.

• Self said you have to respect what Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder has done. He's happy that Snyder picked up a five-year contract extension. Snyder's getting stronger as he goes. He's better now than he ever has been.

• The Big Ten is great this year. Self says that league has five of the top 15 teams or so. Self thinks Michigan has been the most impressive team to date. Indiana has had great stretches as well. You're going to lose games in that league because of the competition in that conference. Self thinks there are a lot more really good teams overall in college basketball than maybe we thought a month ago.

• Self doesn't buy into the Big 12 being down. He thinks the league had some bad non-conference losses. Conference RPI ranking is determined only in non-conference play. In Big 12 play, it's hard to win on the road. Self thinks the Big 12 does a great job of preparing its teams for postseason play.

• Self doesn't keep track of his team's win streak. He says he would love for KU to get to a 23-game win streak, which would break the school record. But he wants that because it would mean that his team has improved to 12-0 in the league.

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clevelandjayhawker 3 months, 2 weeks ago

clevelandjayhawker says "he would love for KU to get to a 38-game win streak, which would break the school record. But he wants that because it would mean that his team has won a National Championship".

actorman 3 months, 2 weeks ago

And a nice little sidelight would be that KU would also break the record for most wins in a season ...

actorman 3 months, 2 weeks ago

And of course gain loads of ground on UK (aka the Evil Empire).

Kubie 3 months, 2 weeks ago

He tries so not to sound greedy.

nuleafjhawk 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Of the four OSU players that Coach mentioned could "go off" - we'd better keep an extra sharp eye on Forte. He can shoot lights out (I believe he has more 3's than anyone else in the league), plus he's a 90% free throw shooter. The way teams have been making 3's against us, I'm pretty concerned about this dude.

I really hope after Saturday afternoon you guys continue to tell me how stupid I am and I'm not saying " I told you so".

actorman 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Yeah, KU's pretty lucky that they haven't run into a team yet that's great at pressing and hitting 3's. If that happens, KU's going to have a hard time winning unless they can drastically cut down on the turnovers.

Reuben_J_Cogburn 3 months, 2 weeks ago

This team needs to just flat out dominate OSU. No reason this shouldn't be at least a 20-point blowout.

They have the ability to. I don't care who thinks Okie State is a good team, in Allen Fieldhouse, they should not even threaten us.

We've been stagnant as of late. I hope Self regains their offensive focus. He'l have had a week to do so by game time.

Boouk 3 months, 2 weeks ago

If ISU threatened KU in Allen Fieldhouse, OSU and all their scorers who can drop 25 on any given night can threaten KU in Allen Fieldhouse. If one of those 4 goes off and we continue our struggles offensively, it'll definitely be a close game.

ralster 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Hmm, I wonder how a team that could "possibly go off" against us will do walking into an enemy gym where the enemy team leads the nation in FG% defense. And KU's 34.5% FG defense is actually ridiculously better than the usual Self-KU team 38-39% which was always good enough to keep us in the top10. That is how we get so many wins...the defense. Good concerns, though Reuben. Would love to see a 20+pt win. We need that (against a decent team). Or, maybe we just are a Big10-style team this year.

Boouk 3 months, 2 weeks ago

If Farad Cobb of Chattanooga went off against us in Allen Feildhouse Phil Forte, Marcus Smart, Markel Brown and LeBryan Nash can go off against us.

akgjenkintown 3 months, 2 weeks ago

20 point victory. Not a chance. Have you looked at OSU record? Their losses were against VT by 10, ranked Gonzaga by 1, ranked KSU by 6, OU by 9, and Baylor by 10. All but the Gonzaga game were on the road. Their best win was against ranked NCS by 21 in an early season tournament. Blindly predicting a blowout when KU is averaging 62 points in Big XII play is foolish. Unless KU found better ball handlers overnight and figured out how to cut down the careless turnovers, this will be a nail bitter and potentially a devastating home loss. OSU is difficult because there are multiple players who could go off during any given game. This will make defending for KU more difficult. Hopefully we will see the first complete game in Big XII play by the Jayhawks today.

jaybate 3 months, 2 weeks ago

" It didn't help the helper defensively; it helped the helper's helper." --Self on the '08 team's defense

This is yet another quote that should be recorded in a plaque and mounted on the wall in AFH.

Emery 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Help, I need somebody!

dylans 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Help, I'm in the TV.

Did anyone else here this over the broadcast several years ago? I'm fairly certain I'm not completely crazy, as others in the room heard it also. Just found it somewhat hilarious and was reminded by Emery's comment.

trustyourSelf 3 months, 2 weeks ago

where's the audio for this?

trojanhawk 3 months, 2 weeks ago

:• Self says OSU has four guys that can "go off" on any night offensively: Markel Brown, Le'Bryan Nash, Phil Forte and Smart. Self picked OSU second in the league. From a talent standpoint, OSU might be the best team in the league. It also probably is the most athletic team in the league."

It'll be interesting to see if Releford is given a single assignment against the Pokes. Four players for them have scored 24 or more in at least one game this season. Forte is the 3pt bomber Heslip was supposed to be in the Big 12, Smart is unstoppable off the dribble at times and Brown went off against KU in a losing effort last year. Then you have Nash who stretches you out with his inside-out game. They're playing their best ball of the year right now. Even though it's at home, I think this has to be a statement game for KU. Big 12 foes are chomping at the bit to take down our lower-scoring team. It's time to crush someone, and it might as well be the Pokes.

jaybate 3 months, 2 weeks ago

One more thing.

What the hell is the idea of you not going to Morgantown to do the Newell Post Live...THERE!!?

Are we going to have to start drawing cross hairs on Keegs' knee caps?

Or was there a valid explanation...like you had to prepare for the site construction and Cloud-ification of the site?

Anyway, we need you at the game, not screwing around with technical shizzz! :-)

ralster 3 months, 2 weeks ago

I hypothesize there is a pecking order at LJW, perhaps...?

ralster 3 months, 2 weeks ago

Here is my latest arrogant-smug-KU-fan/alum idea, after watching UNC struggle, Duke get embarrased, KY struggle, and KU almost lose a big one to IowaSt in AFH...You know what, a blue-blood or other top10 type of team has to simply take care of business. Its about finding consistency and getting better...or working around a "plateaued" weakness. So, I can root for anybody, as I just want to see good basketball. I am going to try to see how that works for my attitude. I will pull for the blue-bloods, and perhaps Indiana too...We will see what Michigan does... I can afford to be magnanimous and appreciative of good play because I am a Kansas fan & alum. We know basketball.

hawk316 3 months, 2 weeks ago

I know the money and the prestige of the NBA is so tempting to young players, but Releford is a perfect example of how much better a player becomes when he sticks around longer. I'm also aware of the argument for taking the money when it's available, and that argument has some validity, but how gratifying it is to see a player reach his potential because he stayed more than one or two years.

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