Bill Self Press Conference: January 24th

Bill Self met with the media in his weekly press conference today to address Saturday’s 8:00 pm matchup against TCU. Coach Self touched on a lot of different topics that included: his thoughts on Frank Mason, last year’s loss in Fort Worth, playing in empty arenas, the team’s academic performance last semester, and what Wiggins can do to be a better player.

On Frank Mason’s play: Self said that he’s very competitive and he tries really hard.  He also gives the team a boost of energy and athleticism that nobody else on the team has as far as being quick with the ball. Self added that Frank has played really well as of late, and that he thought the team needed for Mason to start at the beginning of the season but that his minutes have been limited due to certain matchups. Coach thought Frank was the best player on the team when the Jayhawks faced Baylor on Monday night.

When asked about the 16 turnovers against Baylor, Self said that they’re definitely going to turn it over but that 6-8 turnovers during Monday night’s game were unforced from not being strong with the ball and catching the ball with one hand, etc.  Coach said that those are things that are correctable, but moving forward the team needs to eliminate bad possessions where they come away with nothing because if they can get their turnovers down from 15 to 11 or 12 a game, that will make a big difference in regards to having a chance to win or not.

When asked about losing in Fort Worth last year, Self commented that it could still be a motivating factor even with a lot of young guys on the team this year who didn’t experience the upset. He said that they would talk about the loss and watch tape on it, but that it isn’t necessarily something that he uses for motivation.  He added that KU’s defense actually wasn’t that bad as they held the Horned Frogs to 22 points in the first half, but said that when you go three of 23 from the field and have 11 turnovers in the first half it’s a really poor half of basketball.

On being a “bizzaro” game, Coach Self said that it was one of the strangest games that he’s ever been apart of, but that everybody has bizzare games and KU doesn’t have more than anybody else.  Self also said that he was reminded by one of his coaches today that during the week before last year’s matchup in Fort Worth the Jayhawks were the most ready to play and the most focused that they had been all season. Self said that he doesn’t know if there’s any correlation to that, but his team came out and laid an egg and the loss definitely shocked them.

Self said that his team needs to make each game the biggest game on their schedule, and that there’s certain tactics to get a team ready for one event in basketball because ther are so many big events, unlike football. He added that in basketball, it’s on the guys to get themselves ready to play with energy and enthusiasm.

When asked if it is difficult to play in an environment like TCU, Self said that his guys like playing in front of energy and that playing in Allen Fieldhouse in front of their fans every game spoils them.  He noted that the building will be full at TCU, and that NCAA tournament games are rarely full (unless you play in Kansas City) so these are the types of environments where teams have to play well to advance.

On having a two-game conference lead right now: Self said that after the San Diego State game he told the coaches that they have a better chance at going 0-5 than going 5-0.  He commented that Wayne Selden’s hot shooting as well as hustle plays have spearheaded the Jayhawks’ conference season and gave them new life.

When asked about different lineups, Self said that their coaches haven’t figured it out yet because they’re still playing ten guys and if they had it figured out they would only be playing nine.  He added that they haven’t been able to play their two bigs together yet or play their small package, so he believes that there are a lot more things that they can do to become more of a whole team but that they haven’t quite figured it out yet.

On whether or not he pays attention to the conference Standings: Coach said that he couldn’t tell you who anybody else in the conference plays this week.  He said that it’s up to his own team and that they can’t worry about what everybody else does.  Coach commented that if they worried about other teams it would be too much of an emotional roller coaster but in the last two weeks of the season they do look at the standings to see where each team is at.

Coach Self said that TCU is a much improved team than last year, and that they could have won the game in Norman last night if they would have made some late freethrows.  He commented that they are sound defensively and when they make shots they are a dangerous team.  Self also said that he recruited Shepard and that he’s going to be a great player but if Shepard would have taken KU’s offer, they wouldn’t have had a scholarship for Joel.

On his post game comments after the loss at TCU last year, Coach commented that he said something that he didn’t put a lot of thought into.  He didn’t mean those comments negatively against TCU because they handled his team, but he was frustrated with the Jayhawks own performance.  Jokingly he added that there hasn’t been a game this year where they’ve had 100% assists to field goals made, so that statistic can be spun into a positive.

Self commented that his team did a good job with their grades last semester.  He said that he was happy with them and that everybody took care of their business, but that it was a bad travel last semester because they were on the road so much.

On the Jayhawks’ depth, Self said that they don’t want to foul, but it’s not the end of the earth if they get a couple called on their bigs early on in the game.  He added that it’s not like last year’s team where if Kevin or Jeff got an early foul they had to try and figure out different ways to play.

On what Andrew Wiggins can do to improve: Self noted that if Andrew is strong with the ball he could average 20 and 10 every game.  He said that sometimes Andrew doesn’t make shots but if he drives the ball like he did when they played Baylor he would get fouled which would result in free points.  Self added that everybody is on Joel right now but he’s not putting up bigger numbers than Andrew.  He then commented that Andrew has done a lot of good things for having to play 36-38 minutes in a tough ball game ,and having to guard the other team’s best player at crunch time.  He thinks Andrew has played a lot better than what people have said he has, but Self thinks there is another step that Wiggins can take.