Here is the Cliff’s Notes version of Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self’s comments at his weekly press conference today.
• If C.J. Henry was healthy, he would have played the same minutes as the other guys Tuesday. He needs to be out there to gain confidence. Self is hopeful C.J. will be out there for the next exhibition game. Self is a little bit concerned about the injury because C.J. needs to get out there to get in a rhythm. Self isn’t concerned about C.J.’s long-term health, though.
• Tyshawn Taylor will probably start next Tuesday, but Markieff Morris has been playing well. Markieff is probably the most improved player KU has.
• Self wants be able to give Marcus Morris the opportunity to play on the perimeter. KU can be a big team if it wants to be. The “big” team could be a pretty good zone defensive team (the rotation that had Xavier Henry playing at the two and Marcus at the three).
• Tyhsawn will be fine, but he goes through times when he’s careless.
• C.J.’s injury situation doesn’t affect Mario Little, Travis Releford or Conner Teahan’s red-shirt possibilities.
• Self and the players will probably decide Monday about red-shirts.
• All the guys want to play, but the reality is, some of them might be better with another year’s experience. If you’re a good player, and the deck’s stacked against you and you feel like you are the odd man out, then red-shirting is not a bad scenario.
• The future is, ‘What are we’re going to do this weekend?’ for a lot of college kids, so it is sometimes tough to get them to think about a year from now.
• Self thought a month ago Elijah Johnson was a definite redshirt candidate. Self doesn’t see that now. He didn’t expect Johnson to impact the program the way he has this quickly.
• Markieff’s body has changed. He’s put on 30 pounds. He’s confident.
Self’s son even commented that Markieff dunked on his first attempt when he didn’t dunk much last year. Cole Aldrich might not get as many rebounds because he’ll be more contested by his teammates. Markieff has a good feel for the game.
• Self thinks the twins have the chance to be really good players. From a fan’s perspective, Self thinks those guys could be frustrating to watch last year because they were inconsistent. Early in Julian Wright, Brandon Rush and Mario Chalmers’ careers, they were also inconsistent as well. Self thinks perhaps the Morris twins had too much expected of them last year.
• Self see Tyrel Reed’s role as being one that he can make shots and make big shots. Reed also tries so hard and cares so much. Reed is an unbelievable leader for KU’s players. Everybody respects Tyrel. There’s no way you can play here and not respect his effort. KU fans should respect everything he does because he tries so hard. Self sees his role as comparable to last year, but perhaps with a few more minutes, especially early in the season. The coach doesn’t know for sure, though, as it’s too early to tell exactly what guys’ roles will be.
• Self thinks some of the new recruiting rules are favorable and rules that all coaches would agree with. Some rules need to be tweaked, especially regarding summer camps. The thought is good, but some tweaking need to be done. With the current rules, Self couldn’t bring in any coaches to speak at camp.
• KU needs to get Aldrich more shots. Self thinks a different way, though, in that instead of more shot attempts, KU needs to get Aldrich more touches. He needs to have double-digit shot attempts each game.