Column: Self prefers patience with first-year prodigies

By Tom Keegan     Nov 27, 2014

KANSAS 76, RHODE ISLAND 60

Nick Krug
Kansas forward Cliff Alexander (2) tries to tip back a shot during the first half against Rhode Island on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2014 at the HP Field House in Kissimmee, Florida.

Box score

? Perry Ellis played with the mentality of a go-to scorer and lent strong help defense. Wayne Selden Jr. did a little bit of everything and did it all well. Frank Mason III and Devonté Graham played mistake-free basketball at the point. Landen Lucas played with maturity, putting his big body where it needed to go to thwart defensive opportunities. 

It all added up to Kansas University putting a 76-60 beat-down on Rhode Island in an opening round Orlando Classic game at HP Fieldhouse.

So many strong efforts to discuss, yet the message-board mentality of “I want the world and I want it now,” forever lurks and occasionally finds its way into KU coach Bill Self’s world.

Way back when, before everyone’s patience was cooked in a microwave, evaluations of a young athlete’s ability to play college basketball took place after the player actually played a game or two, or, horror of horrors, 10 or 20 games.

Not now. Now the most talented athletes playing high school basketball face each other in the summer and once a decade or so, players actually get back on defense and a possession ends in something other than a break-away dunk.

Talent evaluators working for various websites, sometimes with a whisper or two from a college basketball coach or an NBA scout, rank the best of the best. Not in pencil, not even in pen. Their names are etched in wet concrete, around which fences are built so as not to endanger anything happening to change the order.

If a player doesn’t meet the expectations of that ranking by the end of November, then something must have gone wrong.

Never mind that the ranking hints at potential, usually NBA potential, and everybody knows potential is a French word for “Ain’t got it yet.”

If 800-meter races were judged the way college basketball freshmen are then ballcap-wearing Dave Wottle, famous for starting at the back of the pack and kicking his way past the entire field, never would have won the 1972 Olympic Gold medal because he would have been thrown off the track after the first lap in every race and never would have qualified for the Olympics.

Cliff Alexander, the talented freshman, still learning the finer points of post play and staying out of foul trouble, didn’t start Thursday, was limited to six first-half minutes because of two fouls and played a terrific second half.

Kelly Oubre Jr., another talented freshman making the transition from wooing the masses with high-flying dunks, rising above the rest in a pavilion with eight games going on at once, to playing in a more structured offense, hasn’t caught on yet.

Self was asked about why he doesn’t feel the pressure to play highly ranked players big minutes right away.

Self’s response was one that young coaches at every level of basketball could benefit from hearing. He started by stating the obvious, that he plays the guys who give him the best chance to win the game. Then he shared his frustration at a preposterous prevailing system that grades players before they have taken a single test.

“I’ve said this all along,” he said. “The media and NBA have totally hurt many of these kids. They totally hurt them because they placed unfair expectations on them.”

He’s not going to dumb down his standards to meet anybody’s. Nor should he. The guy has won 10 Big 12 titles in a row.

“Mario Chalmers didn’t play until Christmas,” Self said. “Julian Wright didn’t play until Christmas. Joel (Embiid) last year played but didn’t start until the eighth game of the season. There’s a process everybody has to go through.”

Process? Doesn’t he know that it’s not necessary to waste all that time basting a turkey, stuffing it and carving it simply because in the end it will taste better? Just rip open the box, shove it in the microwave, tear off the plastic and when the steam subsides, wolf it down in two minutes and get on with it. Life is all about shortcuts, right? Take the easy path.

He’s not seeking the easy way. He prefers the tough climb that in the end makes everybody but those who can’t take it stronger.

“We’ve got a couple of guys with Kelly and Cliff that are going through it,” Self said. “They are going to be terrific players. They are not terrific players yet. The whole thing is you want to do what’s best for your team, first and foremost. Individuals will fall in line, hopefully in line, with what’s best for the team and what’s best for them too.”

Rewarding a player who hasn’t earned it yet is a good way to lower an athlete’s ceiling in the long run.

“I will tell you this, I’ve got no problems with playing guys that are playing the best,” Self said. “I do know this, who we play the most now won’t be who we play the most later on. That’s why guys have got to hang in there and keep grinding.”

Tiger Woods was the most talented golfer of his generation, but he had to learn to grind to fully maximize that talent and for a stretch, he was the best grinder, too.

Had Tiger’s father, Earl Woods, been one of those fathers who had his son compete against adults before he was ready, Tiger, despite all his talent, never would have developed into a great grinder.

“It’s a big transition from high school and AAU ball where things aren’t really ball. It’s like, ‘OK, showcase your running and jumping and athletic ability.’ (When do you learn) time, score and momentum?” Self said. “That’s not part of it in many cases. It takes a little time for these kids. That’s what they are, kids.”

Then Self opened up the soul of one of the world’s better teachers of basketball and let everyone see how the coronation of teenagers before they have learned to play the game, offends him.

“I get frustrated because NBA people, or whoever, will project somebody based on a pickup game in Vegas,” Self said. “To me, that’s ridiculous. So it places some unfair expectations on some and it keeps some under the radar. These guys are going to be seen enough in practice and by all the NBA teams. They’re going to end up where they deserve to be, but they just need to play their way to it.  Kelly and Cliff will get a chance to. They just need to hang in there and be patient.” 

The voices of so many close to them, so many they never will meet, and so many who for selfish reasons will weasel their way into their worlds, echo between their ears and the athlete’s challenge becomes turning that cacophony into white noise so that the only voice they hear is the one who controls the playing time. They do that and their ceilings reach for the sky, along with the cash they one day will stack, provided they don’t rush themselves. 

“The whole thing is they can have it all,” Self said. “It’s not how you start a race. It’s how you finish it.”

Just ask the old 800-meter man from Bowling Green who has a ballcap and a gold medal hanging on a coat rack.


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