Nick KrugKansas University’s Bill Self applauds the NCAA for letting its basketball coaches hold official workouts with their players while summer school is in session.
“I think it’s very important,” Self said Wednesday morning on the Big 12 summer coaches teleconference. “I think it’s a great rule (that) we have access to our kids even though it’s limited to two hours a week in the summertime.
“It does allow us to see and touch ’em depending on how you set it up two to three days a week. I think it is very, very good. I do think there is a culture that exists on campuses that either needs to be understood or improved on and this gives you an opportunity to work on that.”
Self said practices have been intense throughout the month of June.
“I’ve had numerous people come in here and watch our workouts … they are surprised we would go this hard in the summer,” Self said. “I’m not saying we practice harder than anybody else, but when you allow your guys to work with coaches, there is a work ethic and culture that’s developed. It’s a serious time where guys know, ‘This is a time we have to get better.’ I also think there’s a great academic component. You can see and touch your guys multiple times a week where it’s basically they need to show up. I think it’s a very good rule.”
Self was asked how hype surrounding the arrival of top-ranked prospect Josh Jackson compares to say, fellow No. 1-rated prospect Andrew Wiggins during Wiggins’ one year in Lawrence.
“I thought Andrew was pretty prepared coming in here. I feel the same about Josh,” Self said. “One thing about both those guys, they don’t like the attention. I don’t feel like there’s anything from them right now that they have to basically live up to all the expectations and all these things.
“The feeling I get from Josh is he just wants to be a college kid. Of course we know he won’t be a college kid for very long. Certainly he wants us in every way we possibly can to protect and to shield him from all the talk that potentially could go on.
“He’s not caught up in it. I know he’s a social media guy. I don’t think it’s something he needs to read every day. Right now in his brief time here, in the month he’s been here he’s been like, ‘Coach I just want to fit in. I just want to be one (of the guys) just like everyone else.’ We talk about how everybody watches every move. All media requests come through us. Some things we try to simplify for him. I don’t think it will be a huge deal (handling hype). I think it’ll be something we get into a lot as we progress closer to the season. Right now he just wants to be a kid and be one of the team and certainly isn’t caught up on what everybody is talking about.”
Self was asked about the NBA Draft in which KU senior Perry Ellis and juniors Wayne Selden, Jr., and Brannen Greene were not selected.
“I wish there was a way and I don’t know if this is possible, a kid like even Brannen (Greene) or Wayne that go through the draft, if they are able to keep their amateur status, go back to school. That’s not the case with our guys. They obviously signed with agents (as non-seniors and thus were not eligible to return). The whole thing is maybe there could be an extra protection layer there. I do believe the rule change is positive (to allow players to go to Combine and still pull name out of draft) to get more information. There were a lot of guys that did not go to the Combine that stayed in the draft that did not get drafted.”
Self said “maybe an incentive to stay in school is there’s some kind of trust fund set up for them if they stay in school and complete it and are drafted. There are a lot of things that have been thrown out there. It’s not perfect. I don’t have the answer. I don’t know how important it is to the NBA to come up with the answer. Even though they have been very cooperative with the NCAA. We’ve made great strides. I think to make some major, major changes that’s going to have to be a serious process and going to take a lot of time to figure out.”
