Self blames poor practice on ‘carelessness’

By Gary Bedore     Oct 25, 2003

Scott McClurg/Journal-World File Photo
Kansas University men's basketball coach Bill Self watches his team work out earlier this season at Allen Fieldhouse. Self's Jayhawks have been participating in two-a-day practices Thursday and Friday.

Fall break is a time of rest and relaxation for most Kansas University students.

Not KU’s 16 men’s basketball players, who participated in rigorous two-a-day workouts Thursday and Friday at Allen Fieldhouse.

“We need it,” KU coach Bill Self said of the twice-a-day instruction one week into the season. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. We are not anywhere close to where I think we should be at this time.

“It’s too early to get worried,” the first-year KU coach quickly added after Friday night’s session, which lasted more than two hours. “I will say this: We are a long way from being ready to play a game. I’m not sure a lot of teams are ready to play a game six days into it, but certainly I feel we haven’t gained as much from it (practice) as I would have hoped.”

The main source of concern?

“I would say our carelessness,” Self said. “We are pretty careless, and we are not great listeners.”

The players have had plenty of opportunities to develop listening skills since the Oct. 17 “Late Night in the Phog.”

Self — who spent a majority of practice time teaching half-court defense — has given his vocal chords a workout.

“Mainly we have to pick up the effort level. It’s kind of up-and-down right now,” senior forward Bryant Nash said. “We’ve got to get it (energy level) much more straight. That’s mainly why we’re getting chewed out today.

“It’s been pretty tough, running up and down and stuff,” Nash said. “We’ve been making a lot of mistakes, but that’s what practice is for. We need to pick up things quicker. We’ve only got 11 days until our first game.”

The Jayhawks begin exhibition play against the EA Sports All Stars at 7 p.m. Nov. 4 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Self said there have been positives at first-week practice sessions.

“I would think Wayne’s play is certainly a bright spot,” Self said of junior forward Wayne Simien, “and David Padgett’s play is a big-time bright spot.”

Self said Padgett, a 6-foot-11 freshman from Reno, Nev., has not wrapped up a starting spot yet.

“No, no, no,” Self said, “but he’s going to be hard to keep out of there. He just plays so hard. He runs. He is a sponge. He has a ways to go, but he’s a guy who obviously, whether he starts or not, will be hard to keep out of there once we get into the season.”

The other freshmen have been up-and-down.

“J.R. (Giddens) is going through a transition phase, but he’s going to be a very good player,” Self said of the 6-5 guard from Oklahoma City. “I think Jeremy (Case, 6-0, McAlester, Okla.) and Omar (Wilkes, 6-4, Los Angeles) have had their spots where they’ve played pretty well.”

Giddens said the past two days had been a learning experience.

“They are hard. I think they take over a lot of energy,” Giddens said. “They are good for us to get in shape so we’ll have stronger legs late in the game. It’s physically demanding. I have tutoring in between two a days, so I’m on the go, learning so many things.

“I’m not complaining. I love it, (but) being on the go — here, here, here — my legs are gone right now.”

Giddens says the coaches have been intense.

“The coaches are riding us hard. They will ride us hard,” Giddens said. “If they didn’t ride us hard, I would not want them to be my coaches. I hope they get ever harder on us, it’ll make us better.

“Right now,” he added, “we’re working on playing harder, with more intensity.”

  • Bumps, bruises: Jeff Graves, who suffered back spasms at practice Friday, practiced half the time and watched the action from the sidelines and stretched.

Nash, who has a bruised right thumb, practiced with the thumb wrapped. He hurt the thumb — the same one he broke last season — at Monday’s practice.

“I jammed it on somebody’s leg, either Chris (Moody) or Steve’s (Vinson),” Nash said. “The first thing I thought is it was broken. I was relieved the X-rays were negative. There’s a little swelling right now. If it gets hit too hard I get pain for five minutes or so, then it goes away and I go back in.”

“You can tell Bryant loves to play basketball,” Giddens said. “He gets hurt and still gives 100 percent. That is a ballplayer, and I’m glad he’s on my team.”

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