On Thursday afternoon, Bill Self conducted his weekly press conference in Lawrence. Here are a few things that stood out.
— Bill Self said Kansas was scheduled to conduct practice following his time with the media, but added that he hoped Dajuan Harris would be able to practice today. It sounded like Self was under the impression that Harris would be able to practice, but would know more later today.
— Self also said that KJ Adams was feeling quite sore after the game against UCF earlier in the week. It was his first game back since suffering a separated shoulder against Iowa State in Ames.
“He said he was sore. Now we haven't practiced since UCF, so a lot of times you guys ask questions that I don't know the answers to. You guys probably think all the time that you ask questions, but I think he's fine. But sore. I think Juan, we will know more today. We missed him a lot. I think that was pretty evident. But I hope that he's able to practice today. I've been told that he should be able to maybe limited, but still should be able to practice and KJ will practice today, but it'll be limited reps. I'm sure.”
— Self, when talking about the win over UCF on Tuesday night, said Kansas wouldn’t have won had both Adams and Harris would have been unavailable against the Knights. Self, on several occasions, made it clear how important Adams and Harris are when it comes to the role that each plays on a nightly basis.
— David Coit also talked about how important it was to have KJ Adams back against UCF. He said Adams is the type of player that, when on the court, it feels like he’s grabbed a bunch of rebounds even if he hasn’t grabbed any at that particular time. He said his presence on the court is huge.
— Self, on Thursday, also spent a little bit of time talking about a Baylor team that is dealing with some injuries right now.
“Well, I think they're, well obviously they'd been nicked up,” said Self. “I talked to Scott, probably two or three weeks ago, and he told me that their top eight players have been together eight times the whole year for practice, not even games. Langston. Love has been out for significant period of time now. (Jeremy) Roach has been, I guess, is in concussion protocol. They've got good guys. (Robert) Wright has emerged as one of the best point guard prospects in the country.
"And I don't know if you guys seen VJ Edgecombe was projected in the last mock draft to go four. So they've got guys, the big fella from Miami. Obviously, we played against him a couple of years ago, but he's as an impressive a transfer portal guy as there is from a number standpoint. So now they're doing things a little differently defensively. They're switching everything. At least they have been and doing some different things. But I like their talent. They just hadn't, to me, they're a lot like us. When we've been good this year, we've been really good. When we haven't been good, there's been too big a drop-off. And I'm sure Scott would probably say the same thing about them from a consistency standpoint, but they got good players, they're good, and they'll be very dangerous moving forward.”
— Bill Self said Kansas was scheduled to conduct practice following his time with the media, but added that he hoped Dajuan Harris would be able to practice today. It sounded like Self was under the impression that Harris would be able to practice, but would know more later today.
— Self also said that KJ Adams was feeling quite sore after the game against UCF earlier in the week. It was his first game back since suffering a separated shoulder against Iowa State in Ames.
“He said he was sore. Now we haven't practiced since UCF, so a lot of times you guys ask questions that I don't know the answers to. You guys probably think all the time that you ask questions, but I think he's fine. But sore. I think Juan, we will know more today. We missed him a lot. I think that was pretty evident. But I hope that he's able to practice today. I've been told that he should be able to maybe limited, but still should be able to practice and KJ will practice today, but it'll be limited reps. I'm sure.”
— Self, when talking about the win over UCF on Tuesday night, said Kansas wouldn’t have won had both Adams and Harris would have been unavailable against the Knights. Self, on several occasions, made it clear how important Adams and Harris are when it comes to the role that each plays on a nightly basis.
— David Coit also talked about how important it was to have KJ Adams back against UCF. He said Adams is the type of player that, when on the court, it feels like he’s grabbed a bunch of rebounds even if he hasn’t grabbed any at that particular time. He said his presence on the court is huge.
— Self, on Thursday, also spent a little bit of time talking about a Baylor team that is dealing with some injuries right now.
“Well, I think they're, well obviously they'd been nicked up,” said Self. “I talked to Scott, probably two or three weeks ago, and he told me that their top eight players have been together eight times the whole year for practice, not even games. Langston. Love has been out for significant period of time now. (Jeremy) Roach has been, I guess, is in concussion protocol. They've got good guys. (Robert) Wright has emerged as one of the best point guard prospects in the country.
"And I don't know if you guys seen VJ Edgecombe was projected in the last mock draft to go four. So they've got guys, the big fella from Miami. Obviously, we played against him a couple of years ago, but he's as an impressive a transfer portal guy as there is from a number standpoint. So now they're doing things a little differently defensively. They're switching everything. At least they have been and doing some different things. But I like their talent. They just hadn't, to me, they're a lot like us. When we've been good this year, we've been really good. When we haven't been good, there's been too big a drop-off. And I'm sure Scott would probably say the same thing about them from a consistency standpoint, but they got good players, they're good, and they'll be very dangerous moving forward.”
