Hey all,
As most of you know, Kansas opened up its doors to the media on Monday for media day. It was a great opportunity for the media to spend some quality time with Coach Bill Self and the entire University of Kansas men’s basketball team.
To me, it felt like a long time since we’d had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Coach Self and the squad, so media day arrived at the perfect time.
— The first thing that stood out to me is that Coach Self really likes this team. Last year, as most of you know, was extremely frustrating, or it appeared that way to Coach Self. Obviously, the injuries played a big role in how the season ended, but I think we can all agree that some guys just didn't perform as expected. In the off-season, Coach Self added quite a few bodies to his roster and I’m not sure he could be any happier with where things stand heading into the season.
“Well, we've been going, you know, basically every day, not every day, but most every day since June, when school started, June 3, June 4 or whatnot,” said Self. “And certainly been hitting it pretty hard since school started. I would say the thing that stands out to me more than anything is probably just options, more bodies, more athletes. I think we shoot it better, even though there'll be some days we don't.
“But I do think we're a much better shooting team, and I think we even helped ourselves athletically, for sure,” he added. “So there's a lot of things that we, I think potentially could do well. A lot of things we don't do very well at all right now, but it is a different-looking team physically than what we've had this past year.”
— With the season set to begin in the very near future, I think we can all agree that Dajuan Harris, Jr., KJ Adams, Jr., and Hunter Dickinson simply can’t afford to play 30 (plus) minutes a game this season. It just simply can’t happen again this year. Last season, especially with so few options off the bench, the guys got worn down and simply ran out of gas. With so many new bodies, and talented ones at that, Harris, Jr., Adams, Jr., and Dickinson should see a reduction in minutes this season.
“That's not really real, though, because in games that are close, they probably played 37, 36 and 35 (minutes),” said Self. “Do you follow what I'm saying? So the amount of minutes that you actually said right there is less than what they actually played in most big games.
“So the fact that I would like to get those guys all under 30, I think we’ll be a better team if we can get them all under 30,” he added. “ And that allows for more guys to be contributors and good players to actually play a role in the success of what’s going on more.”
— I know I posted this question on the board a few weeks ago, so I decided to ask Coach Self the same question at media day on Monday.
How important is it for Kansas to make a deep run in March?
To me, it’s extremely important for Kansas to make some noise during the NCAA Tournament. After winning the NCAA Championship a few years ago, Kansas has been bounced from the NCAA Tournament the first weekend the past two years.
“Well, I would say every year it's really important that year to make a run,” said Self. “Yeah, the last two years, we've been first-weekend knockouts. Arkansas got us, and then last year Gonzaga obviously whipped us good in the second, you know, in the second game. You guys know as well as I do both of those teams got knocked out, and neither were whole when they were actually competing there at the end. I'm not saying I would have made much of a difference, but I would have liked to have coached in the NCAA tournament that year. And then, of course, last year, if I'm not mistaken, in the Big 12 tournament, Hunt and Kevin didn't play. I mean, that was not a very good team we were putting out there at the end. And I know Hunt played in the tournament.
“He wasn't 100%,” he added. “So I thought last year felt a lot like USC to me because I didn't think we were competitive late. And I don't think that team that lost to USC was competitive, either. David (McCormack) and obviously Jalen (Wilson) got Covid that week. So I don't think that was a team that was whole, either. But I do think it was very apparent after that year that we needed to adjust, and fortunately, we did. But the way we adjusted wasn't the way I intended for us to adjust. I thought we'd really go out and recruit a plethora of guys that would be different than what we had. And what ended up winning the next year was the exact same team. Dudes just got a lot better, and with the one addition and then Remy and then this year, we kind of took a different approach.
“We need to improve ourselves physically and athletically, and I think we did,” he continued. “So, yeah, the last two years haven't set well with any of us, but I think last year hurt more than the year before because I think the year before we can maybe say, yeah, but I, you know, you won it the year before or this or that last year. No, we got our butts whipped. And so I think it does add some extra initiative or motivation that this year doesn't need to be like that.”
— It sounds like a very real possibility that a player could ultimately end up taking a redshirt year this season. I think most can agree that Flory Bidunga is going to play this season, which, in my opinion, likely leaves Rakease Passmore and Jamari McDowell. Because Kansas has so many talented players this season, if the team can stay healthy and if the guys that are expected to contribute do just that, I think a player taking a redshirt is a good idea.
“Yeah, I think so,” said Self when asked about the possibility of a player taking a redshirt year. “I don't know exactly how it's going to play out, but I think so. You know, freshmen, you know, Flory obviously won't, and I'm not saying Rakease Passmore will at all, but at least freshmen get to play in the exhibition games. Before you make that decision, a guy that's in your program and healthy, to my understanding, if they play in the exhibition games, it's the same as playing a regular season game from a red shirt situation.
“So if anybody doesn't play, like against Arkansas, don't read into it that they're definitely redshirting,” he added. “Read into it that we probably hadn't made a decision yet on how much they can actually help us this particular year based on what our needs are.”
As most of you know, Kansas opened up its doors to the media on Monday for media day. It was a great opportunity for the media to spend some quality time with Coach Bill Self and the entire University of Kansas men’s basketball team.
To me, it felt like a long time since we’d had the opportunity to sit down and talk to Coach Self and the squad, so media day arrived at the perfect time.
— The first thing that stood out to me is that Coach Self really likes this team. Last year, as most of you know, was extremely frustrating, or it appeared that way to Coach Self. Obviously, the injuries played a big role in how the season ended, but I think we can all agree that some guys just didn't perform as expected. In the off-season, Coach Self added quite a few bodies to his roster and I’m not sure he could be any happier with where things stand heading into the season.
“Well, we've been going, you know, basically every day, not every day, but most every day since June, when school started, June 3, June 4 or whatnot,” said Self. “And certainly been hitting it pretty hard since school started. I would say the thing that stands out to me more than anything is probably just options, more bodies, more athletes. I think we shoot it better, even though there'll be some days we don't.
“But I do think we're a much better shooting team, and I think we even helped ourselves athletically, for sure,” he added. “So there's a lot of things that we, I think potentially could do well. A lot of things we don't do very well at all right now, but it is a different-looking team physically than what we've had this past year.”
— With the season set to begin in the very near future, I think we can all agree that Dajuan Harris, Jr., KJ Adams, Jr., and Hunter Dickinson simply can’t afford to play 30 (plus) minutes a game this season. It just simply can’t happen again this year. Last season, especially with so few options off the bench, the guys got worn down and simply ran out of gas. With so many new bodies, and talented ones at that, Harris, Jr., Adams, Jr., and Dickinson should see a reduction in minutes this season.
“That's not really real, though, because in games that are close, they probably played 37, 36 and 35 (minutes),” said Self. “Do you follow what I'm saying? So the amount of minutes that you actually said right there is less than what they actually played in most big games.
“So the fact that I would like to get those guys all under 30, I think we’ll be a better team if we can get them all under 30,” he added. “ And that allows for more guys to be contributors and good players to actually play a role in the success of what’s going on more.”
— I know I posted this question on the board a few weeks ago, so I decided to ask Coach Self the same question at media day on Monday.
How important is it for Kansas to make a deep run in March?
To me, it’s extremely important for Kansas to make some noise during the NCAA Tournament. After winning the NCAA Championship a few years ago, Kansas has been bounced from the NCAA Tournament the first weekend the past two years.
“Well, I would say every year it's really important that year to make a run,” said Self. “Yeah, the last two years, we've been first-weekend knockouts. Arkansas got us, and then last year Gonzaga obviously whipped us good in the second, you know, in the second game. You guys know as well as I do both of those teams got knocked out, and neither were whole when they were actually competing there at the end. I'm not saying I would have made much of a difference, but I would have liked to have coached in the NCAA tournament that year. And then, of course, last year, if I'm not mistaken, in the Big 12 tournament, Hunt and Kevin didn't play. I mean, that was not a very good team we were putting out there at the end. And I know Hunt played in the tournament.
“He wasn't 100%,” he added. “So I thought last year felt a lot like USC to me because I didn't think we were competitive late. And I don't think that team that lost to USC was competitive, either. David (McCormack) and obviously Jalen (Wilson) got Covid that week. So I don't think that was a team that was whole, either. But I do think it was very apparent after that year that we needed to adjust, and fortunately, we did. But the way we adjusted wasn't the way I intended for us to adjust. I thought we'd really go out and recruit a plethora of guys that would be different than what we had. And what ended up winning the next year was the exact same team. Dudes just got a lot better, and with the one addition and then Remy and then this year, we kind of took a different approach.
“We need to improve ourselves physically and athletically, and I think we did,” he continued. “So, yeah, the last two years haven't set well with any of us, but I think last year hurt more than the year before because I think the year before we can maybe say, yeah, but I, you know, you won it the year before or this or that last year. No, we got our butts whipped. And so I think it does add some extra initiative or motivation that this year doesn't need to be like that.”
— It sounds like a very real possibility that a player could ultimately end up taking a redshirt year this season. I think most can agree that Flory Bidunga is going to play this season, which, in my opinion, likely leaves Rakease Passmore and Jamari McDowell. Because Kansas has so many talented players this season, if the team can stay healthy and if the guys that are expected to contribute do just that, I think a player taking a redshirt is a good idea.
“Yeah, I think so,” said Self when asked about the possibility of a player taking a redshirt year. “I don't know exactly how it's going to play out, but I think so. You know, freshmen, you know, Flory obviously won't, and I'm not saying Rakease Passmore will at all, but at least freshmen get to play in the exhibition games. Before you make that decision, a guy that's in your program and healthy, to my understanding, if they play in the exhibition games, it's the same as playing a regular season game from a red shirt situation.
“So if anybody doesn't play, like against Arkansas, don't read into it that they're definitely redshirting,” he added. “Read into it that we probably hadn't made a decision yet on how much they can actually help us this particular year based on what our needs are.”
