Here is the Cliff’s Notes version of Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self’s comments at his weekly press conference today.
• Win No. 400 means Coach Self is older than he’d like to be. But honestly, it doesn’t mean too much to him. He’s been lucky to have been around good players and good people.
• Self won’t coach until he’s 75. “That can be a big byline tomorrow,” Self said with a laugh. Self doesn’t think coaching into one’s late 60s in age will be as common in the future in college basketball.
• Everybody has doubts when you start out as a coach. When things go bad in your profession, you re-evaluate yourself. When Self was young, he thought he could take any player and out-coach the next guy. That’s not how it works.
• Every team is different. This team is totally different from last year’s team, which was different from the team the year before.
• Self doesn’t think this year’s team is the best defensive team he’s had at KU, even though the numbers say that KU is good. Self doesn’t think it’s the best rebounding team he’s had at KU, although KU is up there pretty good. Self doesn’t think it’s the most efficient offensive team he’s had, even though KU is up there pretty good. From a combination of all those things together, this might be as efficient of a team as Self has had. It’s hard to be a lot better in an area than the 2008 team. It was a great and unselfish team with go-to guys. This year’s team could be comparable with potential to that team, but it’s not there yet.
• The best rotation for KU is an eight-player rotation with an emergency ninth or 10th man. It’s been that way most of the time at KU.
• Against Texas, KU received nine offensive rebounds when the ball went out of bounds. Six or seven were probably shots blocked out of bounds. Self thinks KU blocks too many balls out of bounds. Cole Aldrich is better than most at keeping his blocks in bounds, though he still could be better.
• Aldrich is the best shot blocker that Self has ever coached.
• Sherron Collins’ maturity has exceeded Self’s expectations. Collins’ unselfishness with his thoughts has exceeded Self’s expectations. The one thing that has amazed Self more than anything else is that Kansas has changed him in regards of how he’s dealt with people. Collins came in with a chip on his shoulder, and he’s been able to totally give of himself for the betterment of everyone else.
• Against Texas, Self didn’t think KU was very good offensively. This team hasn’t seen its best performers perform consistently well together. Though KU is 23-1, the ultimate goal at the end of the season isn’t to have the best record — it’s to have the best team.
• Marcus Morris can defend Iowa State’s Craig Brackins better this year because he’s smarter defensively.
• ISU has had a bad schedule so far. Its first three home games were Kansas, Texas and Kansas State. That’s a tough home slate to start. It’s coach-speak, but ISU is better than its record.
• KU has created enough situations daily through its own family to have had its share of adversity. Self believes, collectively, that his team plays tough in crucial possessions.
• KU had Tuesday and Wednesday off. The players should be fresh in today’s practice. Big Monday games are good if you win the Big Monday games.
• Self thinks Collins will be very emotional for his last four home games. This place means that much to him. Self wasn’t expecting that from him when he first arrived here.
• Brady Morningstar’s free-throw attempt is a tough one for Self to figure out. He’s never seen anything like that. Morningstar told Self the ball was wet, but looking at the replay, it wasn’t wet. Good lip-readers can tell exactly what Morningstar said after the first free throw. Morningstar’s the one guy that can handle it, because he can laugh at himself. That play should be laughed at. Though it wasn’t funny at the time, Self will look back at that and laugh in the future.
• There’s still a chance for Elijah Johnson to impact the team. Self tells him that. Every team has an odd-man out, and that’s Johnson this year. That’s not negative, that’s just how it is. Self doesn’t see him moving ahead of the other KU guards this year. Self believes he could be like Cole Aldrich in 2008 (having an impact in an NCAA Tournament game off the bench).
• Self didn’t recruit Thomas Robinson and Johnson to have impacts right away. The coaching staff recruited them to have impacts down the road.
