His kind of town

By Gary Bedore     Mar 15, 2007

Nick Krug
KANSAS UNIVERSITY BASKETBALL COACH BILL SELF laughs with media members while holding a copy of the Chicago Sun-Times that includes the headline, "This Bill's Due." Self and the Jayhawks arrived at their team hotel in Chicago on Wednesday night in preparation for Friday's game against Niagara.

? Bill Self hopped off the team bus at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, heavy winds blowing and light hail – yes, hail – falling from the sky in front of the Westin Michigan Avenue Hotel.

“Wow. They say it’s the Windy City, don’t they?” Self, Kansas University’s basketball coach, gasped after escaping temperatures in the 30s by entering a hallway near the lobby.

“That’s certainly the case today.”

The wind didn’t cause an hour-long delay in KU’s travel plans – instead, it was a weight-distribution problem with the charter plane at Topeka’s Forbes Field.

Regardless, the Jayhawks, who were bundled up as they exited the bus (Russell Robinson rubbed his hands together to try to generate heat), arrived safe and sound for today’s practices and media sessions and Friday’s 6:10 p.m. NCAA Tournament opener against Niagara at the United Center.

The squad’s banged-up players – big men Sasha Kaun (bruised back) and Darrell Arthur (bruised pubic bone) – practiced Wednesday in Lawrence and are on track to be able to play Friday.

“We practiced well,” Self said. “Sasha and ‘Shady’ were both able to go. Sasha is not quite 100 percent. At least he was able to practice and go through some contact. He won’t do much tomorrow, probably. Shady was fine today.

“I doubt he does much tomorrow,” Self added of Kaun, who may not go full speed at an early afternoon closed workout at Moody Bible College and open practice from 4:25 p.m. to 5:05 p.m. at the United Center.

“We’ll see how sore he is. We wanted to test him today just in case he couldn’t go back-to-back days. That way he can take tomorrow off if he has to.”

Self was greeted by a batch of reporters at the team hotel, including one Chicago TV crew.

A TV personality had a gift for Self, a Chicago Sun-Times article with the headline, “This Bill’s Due.” It was referring to former Illinois coach Self being due for a long run in the tourney after his Jayhawks were ousted in the first round twice the past two seasons, and the coach himself coming close to the Final Four three times before.

He reached the Elite Eight at Illinois, KU and Tulsa.

A massive photo of Self barking orders to his players – with his mouth wide open – accompanied the story.

“Do I ever have any pictures with my mouth shut?” the coach cracked. “Me personally, I love this city. I love to recruit here. Hopefully it’ll be a more successful trip than we had in December.”

That’s when the Jayhawks lost to DePaul, 64-57, on Dec. 2 in All-State Arena in suburban Rosemont.

“We didn’t play well at all. They whipped us,” Self said. “It was a good thing Julian (Wright) and Sherron (Collins, both Chicago natives) came back the first time. Not that they didn’t handle it well. They realize there are more distractions coming back home to play than they wouldn’t have if it was their first trip. They will adjust and be very excited.”

Self told the Illinois TV personality “it’s pretty cool it’s us and Illinois in the same region.” The two teams could meet next week in third-round West Regional action in San Jose, Calif.

“I’d love to get a chance to play Illinois. They’d love to get a chance to play us. It means we’d both have won a couple games. We are really looking forward to playing the weekend here.”

Self grinned when asked if there were still hard feelings that he left Illinois after three seasons for KU.

“When Roy (Williams) left Kansas, there were fans obviously upset. Even when Carolina doesn’t do well, there’s a contingent of fans that cheer (in Allen Fieldhouse),” Self said. “I’m sure the same thing happens in Assembly Hall (in Champaign, Ill.) when Kansas doesn’t do well. It’s the nature of the business, goes with the territory.”

¢Tough 16 seed: Self remains impressed with Niagara (23-11) . The Purple Eagles rolled over Florida A&M, 77-69, in the NCAA’s play-in game Tuesday in Dayton, Ohio.

“Watching tape on them before the game last night, I was amazed at how easy they scored,” Self said. “Last night they didn’t shoot the ball well behind the arc (eight of 27) and they still scored pretty easy. They are a great offensive rebounding team.

“Their 5-man makes five or six threes in a game, that’s hard to guard,” he added of 6-foot-7 Clif Brown, who cashed six threes and scored 32 points. “We’ll have to be very good, especially on the defensive end.

Niagara will practice from 5:55 p.m. until 6:35 p.m. today at the United Center.

¢Recruiting: KU remains the favorite school of Willie Warren, a 6-foot-4 junior shooting guard from North Crowley High School in Texas, the alma mater of ex-Jayhawk standout Keith Langford.

Warren, the No. 13 player in the Class of 2008 and No. 3-rated shooting guard, has a list of KU, Arkansas, Arizona, Baylor, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas A&M.

“I really love Kansas and that’s pretty much all I can say about the Jayhawks,” Warren told rivals.com. “Arkansas and Texas are tied for second right now.”

He’s visited KU and Arkansas and would like to visit Texas and hopefully pick a school sometime in June.

¢KU No. 1?: Ryan Menachof, a 21-year-old North Carolina senior history major and NCAA Tournament number-cruncher, tells the Raleigh News and Observer that KU will beat Texas A&M in the 2007 NCAA title game. He has North Carolina losing to A&M in one semifinal and Florida falling to KU in the other. Menachof uses extensive statistical data to come up with his picks.

¢One and done in the past?: KU junior Russell Robinson says he’s not angry at hearing all the talk about KU’s losses to Bradley and Bucknell in first-round NCAA Tournament play.

USA Today was the latest to run a feature story on KU’s failures Wednesday.

“We dropped the first game two years in a row. For Kansas that’s not something that you want,” Robinson said. “We want to redeem ourselves. The only way to do that is come out and play well. We’ve got to prove we can win. We won the Big 12 two years in a row.

“This is what we prepare for all season, the NCAA Tournament. It’s one thing we’ve got to prove, that we can win the NCAA. We’ll leave it all on the court, do all we can to win.”

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