Self hoping to see sophomore center Udoka Azubuike at full speed

By Matt Tait     Mar 20, 2018

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Kansas head coach Bill Self brings in the Jayhawks during a timeout in the second half, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018 at Allen Fieldhouse.

The Kansas men’s basketball team began final preparations for its trip north to Omaha this week to take on Clemson in the Sweet 16 on Friday night, with a spot in a third consecutive Elite Eight on the line.

After returning home from Wichita following Saturday night’s Round 2 win over Seton Hall, the Jayhawks took Sunday off and went through a light workout and team meetings on Monday before running through a full practice Tuesday afternoon.

KU coach Bill Self, speaking with former KU walk-on Nick Bahe, now a radio talk show host in Omaha, said Tuesday that things looked good for sophomore center Udoka Azubuike heading into Tuesday’s practice.

“We’ll find out today,” Self told Bahe during a 12-minute segment on Game Time with Nick Bahe. “He took Sunday and Monday off. Others did some things, but he couldn’t. But we think he’ll be full-speed today and if he’s full-speed today and Wednesday and Thursday, only foul trouble and flat-out fatigue will be the only way he’s not in the game on Friday.”

Azubuike, of course, is still nursing an injured left knee that popped up two days before the Big 12 tournament and kept Azubuike out of all but three minutes of the Jayhawks’ next four games.

The 7-foot center made a full return to the floor against Seton Hall and recorded 10 points and 7 rebounds in 22 minutes to help Kansas advance.

Self and Bahe, who finished his playing career at Creighton, in Omaha, discussed several other aspects of this year’s team and this year’s NCAA Tournament during their quick radio reunion, which both opened and ended with Bahe and Self joking about the former guard’s cat-like quickness.

“If we had that jet-quick point guard from Omaha from 15 years ago, we’d have a better chance,” Self joked. “It’s been a struggle ever since you left. … Even you at half speed is probably quicker than most.”

Self also appeared on Jim Rome’s show on Tuesday and had similar thoughts about Azubuike.

“He took yesterday and Sunday off. He’ll be full speed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. He’ll start on Friday as long as we don’t have a setback,” Self told Rome. “Hopefully I’ll be more worried about foul situations than health, because we are going to need him.

“I think we have to play through him from this point forward, no matter how long it lasts. We have to get some inside baskets.”

Here’s a quick look at a few other topics Self discussed on Tuesday:

On returning to Omaha for the fourth time in the NCAA Tournament
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“Omaha’s a great town and the downtown is nice where we’ll stay and I think our fans do enjoy it,” Self began.

“We’ve been up there, I think this will be our fourth time playing in the tournament up there, and we haven’t always been really good. We weren’t good the last time we played there (vs. Wichita State in Round 2 in 2015). But hopefully we’ll remember the two times prior to that.”

One of those trips, of course, marked the beginning of KU’s run to the 2008 national title. Kansas defeated Portland State and UNLV in two games in Omaha before going on to win four more to bring home the title.

The other time Kansas played in Omaha under Self came in 2012, when the Jayhawks knocked off Detroit and survived a second-round scare from Purdue en route to a national runner-up finish in that tournament.

Kansas is 5-1 all-time in NCAA Tournament games played in Omaha under Self.

On the turning point for the 2017-18 team
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“I didn’t think we were very good midway through our conference season,” Self began.

“We had our 120-year reunion and Oklahoma State came up here and spanked us pretty good in front of all those (former players). And I think that really turned out to be a blessing for us because I didn’t hold back much after that. Our guys were embarrassed. Not that we lost to Oklahoma State. Not that. But you have so many people that come back, alums of 20, 30, 40, 50 years to see their team, their boys, play and that was the best we gave them. I think that that kind of set the tone that this is really unacceptable, which it was. And we got better because of it.

“Lagerald Vick started playing better, Malik Newman’s really picked it up, Devonte’ Graham’s played at a player of the year level all year long and Udoka’s continually getting better. So there were some things naturally that took place. But through a couple of tough times we had to get better and the guys really did rally around that.”

On Graham reminding him of Aaron Miles
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Although it was nothing new, Self again tossed Graham’s name into the ring with some pretty impressive company.

“I think he’s the best leader we’ve ever had here,” Self said. “Aaron Miles may be the best one we’ve ever had up until now. I loved Aaron, but Devonte’s that type of leader plus he’s getting you 17 a game and also getting seven and a half assists a game. He’s just been fantastic. He’s willed us to win a lot of games.

“You don’t ever want to put it on a guy saying, ‘Hey, go win it.’ But much like we have with others, whether it be Frank or whoever, we’ve leaned on them, but Devonte’s probably performed as well as anybody we’ve had in late-game situations.”

On 16 seed UMBC beating 1 seed Virginia and if that’ll happen again
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“It’s a little bit different now because you don’t have four 16 seeds, you have six,” Self explained. “So the way it used to be, you have basically two 15s that are now 16s because we have the play-in games. I’m not saying that makes a big difference, but it could.

“The gap has shrunk. When you have experience and talent, it’s obviously the best scenario. But sometimes with a 15 or 16, you’ve got good players and you’ve got experience and they’re playing with house money and a lot of times you’re playing with youth as a 1 seed.”

“I do think the gap has narrowed. I do think it’ll happen again. I was really happy for (UMBC coach) Ryan (Odom) because I know Ryan a little bit, and I felt awful for (Virginia coach) Tony (Bennett) because that’s something that will be remembered as opposed to the fact that they won the ACC by four games and won their conference tournament. But that’s the nature of the business and nobody knows that better than us because we’ve had some great times, but we’ve had some heartaches too in the tournament.”

“The tournament can very cruel but it can also be the most rewarding (event). But it’ll happen again. It won’t be 135 games again before it happens again because the gap has narrowed.”

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.