Nick KrugKansas University basketball coach Bill Self was informed by an Associated Press reporter on the Big 12 coaches teleconference today that he’d been voted AP’s Big 12 coach of the year by media members.
“I’m happy and proud. You could have picked a handful of coaches in our league that would be deserving of awards,” Self said. “Certainly Bob (Huggins, West Virginia) is very deserving. I thought Scott (Drew, Baylor) and Lon (Kruger, Oklahoma) were very deserving. Of course Fred (Hoiberg, Iowa State) had a great year, too. It could have been multiple guys. I’m glad you told me that because I didn’t know it. I’m very proud of it. All it is a reflection of the guys having a great year and playing hard … It’s been an interesting year, been a fun year, been a grinding year, a tiresome year, but it’s been great,” Self added.
Speaking about the upcoming Big 12 tournament after winning an ultra-competitive league, Self said: “I’d say everybody (coaches in league) would agree their team is probably more worn out right now than any other year just because of the grind in conference play.
“We’ll go over there (KC’s Sprint Center) with one thing in mind (winning),” he noted. “If we need to take a day or two off, we’ll take a day or two off, but certainly we’ll go there to play to win. But we’ll probably play more guys and play our main guys less minutes.”
Self said he will approach the postseason and “coach this team like we’re going to get Perry (Ellis) back. He’s going to be 100 percent (recovered from knee sprain), which we believe will be the case real soon. Wayne (Selden sprained ankle) will be 100 percent. B.G. (Brannen Greene) will be back (from suspension) and then whatever will happen with Cliff (Alexander, out because of NCAA issue) will be a bonus if he’s able to come back.
“Last year we made a mistake. We thought we’d get Joel (Embiid) back (from injury) based on what we were told. It didn’t work out that way. (It was) no one’s fault but it didn’t work out that way. You kind of coach the team thinking he will come back. I don’t know if that’s the right approach. Our team we have is good enough to make a dent in it, good enough to play well. That’s pretty evident by our last performance in Norman (loss to Oklahoma Saturday). Though we came up short, we were really shorthanded and guys competed hard, played well. There’s just very little margin for error.”
