A reporter asked Bill Self if the room temperature seemed warmer than usual Wednesday in stuffy Hadl Auditorium, site of his weekly news conference.
“I feel a lot of heat in here today. Most of it is from you guys,” Self quipped to the 30 or so media assembled.
Kansas University’s first-year basketball coach hasn’t lost his sense of humor during a stretch in which his Jayhawks (17-7 overall, 9-4 Big 12 Conference) have dropped four of their past eight games — all four losses on the road.
His only mild beef media-wise is the repeated mention that the Jayhawks’ last three road losses — all by double digits — constitute KU’s worst three road losses since 1906.
“I think that’s a bunch of crap,” Self said of comparing a 20-point loss to Oklahoma State, 19-pointer to Nebraska and 15-point defeat to Texas with routs to three YMCA teams back in the old days.
“People that write it are obviously doing their stats. I think it’s a bunch of crap regardless. You can break anything down statistically to support your story.
“I read something after we lost to Oklahoma State and Nebraska that it was the worst back-to-back losses since 1906. How do you compute that? Do you add the two losses together?
“When you start comparing, did we lose by 11 or by 16? Should we have fouled late to make sure we only lose by 10? Or do we try to get better and foul? Those things are irrelevant. You get your butt beat, you get your butt beat.”
Self realizes that, at KU, when teams are losing games, there will be discussion about his performance and the team’s.
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“With the position comes heat. With the position comes stress, those sorts of things,” Self said. “We made the decision to come to Kansas. When you come to Kansas you’ll experience things like that.
“I could really care less about how people judge the job we are doing because people aren’t here everyday. What I do care about is playing so we have the best chance night in and out.”
He doesn’t have to go too far back in history to find other KU teams that had similar-type seasons.
“With all of Roy’s success and everything … when Nick and Kirk were freshmen, they were a No. 8 seed. When they were sophomores they were a No. 4 seed. I would bet even some people out there felt Roy wasn’t doing as good a job then.
“We are what we are. We can’t get back seven losses. We’ve got to get better and move forward. I believe we will,” Self said.
Roy Williams’ Jayhawks indeed were No. 8 seeds in the 2000 NCAA Tournament. That’s when, with freshmen Drew Gooden, NIck Collison and Kirk Hinrich in the lineup, KU went 24-10 and lost in the second round of the NCAAs.
This year, KU, which starts two freshmen, is 17-7 with three regular-season games to play.
The Jayhawks likely will land anywhere between a No. 4 and 8 seed in the NCAAs, depending on how they finish the last three regular-season games and games in the league tourney.
“If people want to point fingers they should point them at the coach,” Self said. “I’d rather them point fingers at me than the players. I still am very positive. I think if we play our very best, we can play at a level high enough where we can play with anybody. I believe that and the players believe that.
“There are a lot of teams getting better right now. We have been a team that is just treading water and we are due for a spurt.”
A late-season win streak would please the fans, who can be demanding.
“I remember before I first came here, the first couple years Kenny Gregory and those guys might have lost 10 games and everybody was hard on them,” KU junior Wayne Simien said. “It’s how the tide turns. Things haven’t been nice and pretty.
“If people want to count us out, they can, but there’s a lot of season left.”
Of his coach, he said: “Coach Self might be the scapegoat to some, since it’s his first year. I don’t know because I really haven’t read the papers. Some come up to you on the street and ask what’s going on. I have all the confidence in the world with coach and everybody on this team.
Self said the seniors (Jeff Graves, Bryant Nash and Brett Olson) will be introduced to the traditional flower shower before the game. And they will speak to the fans after the game.
“We’ll certainly continue the tradition,” Self said.
He said he hadn’t made a final decision on his Senior Night starting lineup. He said he was leaning toward starting seniors Graves and Nash, but probably not walk-on Olson, who has played just 19 minutes total in eight games and hasn’t played at all with the first unit
Self Wednesday grinned when asked if his players had ever given speeches to crowds at Tulsa, Oral Roberts and Illinois.
“Maybe an impromptu speech,” he said, “but not one where they knew they’d get called on.”
“I’ve already talked to all our guys about this stuff,” Self said, noting he will start a new policy having players sign off on a document regarding what can be done with recruits on campus visits.
“We’ll have our players sign off as far as what is not allowed, that kind of stuff,” Self said. “Not that they’d be doing anything wrong in the past, just to make sure everybody knows. We’ve changed some things after the Baylor situation and will after the Colorado situation. You have an itinerary and it’s best to know what’s going on at all times (on visits). You trust your guys to do the right thing.”
“I called Lew and told him. He has always been good, but to get your fans to complain to me about something has to be an all-time coup,” Weiser quipped.
