Scott McClurg/Journal-World PhotoSt. Louis ? Jeff Graves, who with his puffy upper lip looked like a boxer the day after a fight, took an oral jab at his former coach on Saturday at Edward Jones Dome.
“As far as the handling of me, coach (Bill) Self gave me a chance. As far as coach (Roy) Williams, he didn’t really give me a chance. He always got me in the doghouse,” said Graves, who needed seven stitches to close a cut on his lip, courtesy of an elbow from UAB’s Marques Lewis in the Jayhawks’ 100-74 win over the Blazers on Friday night.
“I guess he never gave me credit,” Graves added of Williams, who now works at North Carolina. “Coach Self … I love him to death. He gives me credit where credit is due. He gives me the opportunity to do what I need to do out here for the team to succeed.”
Graves, KU’s senior center who was disciplined by Williams in the preseason last year and Self a couple of times this year, joked about his lip Saturday.
“My fat lip makes me look like Bart Simpson,” Graves said of the cartoon character. “Seven stitches … lucky seven.”
Thad Allender/Journal-World Photo¢
Simien phones Roy: KU junior Wayne Simien also was asked about his relationship with Williams at Saturday’s news conference, which covered a lot of topics leading up to today’s Elite Eight game against Georgia Tech.
“Coach Williams and I talk now and then,” Simien said. “I call him because I want to know how he’s doing. I care about those guys (former KU coaches at UNC).”
Of Williams’ leaving last April, he said: “I was really hurt by it. Being from Kansas, I’d known Coach since seventh grade. When emotions settled down, I realized he’d made the best decision for himself, and it’s a business, too. I was able to reconcile it.
“I wish he had a chance to coach me when I was in my prime,” Simien added of Williams. “Coach Self is a great guy. I couldn’t ask for a better coach in his place.”
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Buying in: KU junior Keith Langford admitted he may have told some white lies early in the season when asked if the team was “buying in” to Self’s system.
“I think a lot of what was said as far as buying in was kind of just saying what everybody wanted to hear to begin with,” Langford said. “It’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m behind you. Yeah, everything is fine. Yeah, I’m bought in,’ but I think you could tell in our play that wasn’t the case. It took a couple of bad losses — at home to Richmond, on the road at Lincoln — it started to sink in this wasn’t the same team we had the last couple of years. We were forced to accept it. Buying in was the best thing for this team because it paid off tremendously.”
KU’s new coaching staff held a lot of team meetings during tough times early.
“Coach made it clear that it was his way,” guard Aaron Miles said. “It took more meetings than it should have taken.”
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Bad days revisited: Simien recalled watching KU’s Sweet 16 victory over Duke and Elite Eight win over Arizona in a hospital bed in New York last March after he’d had surgery to reconstruct his right shoulder.
“The nurses had to quiet me down,” he said. “The Arizona game was when I had the surgery. I had IV’s in me. I got a little bit excited. I hurt myself a bit, and I remember having the pain button to hit for IV treatment next to me. I remember taping that thing down, jumping up and down and being excited. I had my nose to the tube at the end of that Arizona game.”
He’s glad to be playing this postseason.
“All the hours spent in rehab in the weight room … it’s great knowing it’s paid off to have a great year,” Simien said.
He thanked his parents, who have watched every game in person this season and were with him in a New York hospital last year instead of in Anaheim, Calif., where the Jayhawks were playing.
“They were there when it was the loneliest for me,” he said. “I’m at an age where you kind of want to draw away from your parents a bit. There are times I shunned them away. I wanted to do the Lone Ranger thing. They got through it and mean so much to me.”
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Doing better: Giddens heard good news Saturday regarding his mother, who has been in the hospital since December battling a long illness.
Dianna Giddens was able to go home Saturday temporarily.
“It’s like a day pass,” Giddens said. “They’ll see how she does, and then she’s supposed to be released Monday.
“It’s a big thing. It’s a lot of stress off me.”
Dianna returned to the hospital Saturday and likely will stay until Monday. She could be traveling soon.
“When we make it to the Final Four,” Giddens said, “she’s going to be there to watch.”
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