Bill Self Press Conference
Jan. 18, 2010
VIDEO: Self Press Conference
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Kansas Men’s Basketball Head Coach Bill Self
Press Conference Quotes
January 18, 2010
On if he thought Baylor would be this good:
“Well, I knew they would be good, but I think they’ve probably surpassed a lot of people’s expectations except maybe their own because of how they’ve played. If I’m not mistaken they’ve lost (Kevin) Rogers, (Henry) Dugat and (Curtis) Jerrells. That’s a lot, but they’ve gotten better. They’re definitely a better team than they were last year. (Josh) Lomers has gotten a lot better and (Anthony) Jones has kind of come into his own. (Quincy) Acy is a good player and certainly the play of (Ekpe) Udoh and Tweety (Carter) and (LaceDarius) Dunn–I think he’s been the key to their team. Those guys have been playing at a high level all year long.”
On Baylor’s defensive presence:
“Yeah, well they’re playing zone. I think they’re playing a majority of their possessions in zone. They’ll play some man too, to try to heat you up, they’re playing a 2-3 zone. They’ve kind of caught lightning in a bottle, so to speak in playing it late in the season last year. They hurt us last year in the Big 12 tournament with it. We’re not going to play very many teams this year that have a seven-foot player like Lomers. Udoh is 6-9 and Jones is 6-9 or 6-10. All their guys are long on top of all that, so it’s really an effective zone because of their length.”
On Kansas Athletics’ fundraising for Haiti:
“I don’t know exactly what the dollar figure is online, but I think it’s pretty good. I’m really hopeful that we’ll know tomorrow how much we brought in from the men’s and women’s games this weekend. I’m hopeful that we can raise a minimum of 25 (thousand), so we can match it with 25 (for a total of 50 thousand). I was hopeful that we could get 50 and match it with 50 (for a total of 100 thousand). It’s amazing to me what’s happening. You’ve got Presidents Clinton and Bush that are dominating all the airwaves doing the exact same things in a different venue. It’s really important to everybody. I know we have some important things going on, but when you stop and think that the average income is less than one dollar a day for those that are living in that country. So if you put in 20 or 100 dollars in, it is helpful to those people and what they’re going through. The problems that they’ve had–from watching CNN and everything–are just beginning. They don’t have water or food, diseases will start setting in and they just have so many things going on. We’ve got to help them. Even though I don’t know people directly over there, I think it affects all mankind. We should do everything to help the people that can’t help themselves.”
KU Player Quotes
Junior center Cole Aldrich
On playing against Baylor’s zone:
“We need to move the ball, get it inside and create gaps. We need to put pressure on them. That’s one of the most important things we can do.”
On Baylor’s team:
“We’re going to watch some film today and do some stuff out on the court. We’re just going to get ready for them. They have a lot of length. Quincy Acy is tall with long arms, (Josh) Lomers down low is really big and they’ve got the best shot-blocker in the Big 12 so far with (Ekpe) Udoh. It’s going to be a fun game. It’s going to be a really tough one, though.”
On if he has snapped out of playing badly:
“I hope so. I have been going through a little funk for quite a while with not being able to finish shots and what-not. I told Sherron (Collins) and the other guys that I wanted to finish for them. They are giving me the ball to score and I’ve just got to finish.”
Freshman guard Xavier Henry
On how he wants to impact the game when not hitting shots:
“I just need to keep playing defense. As long as we’re playing hard, I don’t care about scoring. All I care about is winning.”
On the importance of free throws in his game:
“It’s not too important to me, I would rather focus on the overall game and how to get somebody a shot, feed the post and stuff like that.”
On Baylor:
“We haven’t done much yet. We are getting ready to prep for them today, so I don’t know much about them. I did hear that they were long and tall. The guy I’m guarding is 6-10. It’s just a big team.”
Junior guard Brady Morningstar
On what he thinks the game will be like versus Baylor:
“A lot of possessions, a lot of shots, a lot of rebounds and hopefully a lot of steals for us. [Hopefully] not a lot of turnovers. It is going to be a high possession ball game because teams like [Baylor] like to play fast.”
On who from Baylor’s team impresses him:
“They all impress me. They are as athletic as can be. Tweety Carter can shoot the ball well and handle the ball well. LlaceDarius [Dunn] can also obviously shoot the ball well. Their bigs are really athletic and they like to run. They are a tough team to guard because they can do a lot of things.”
How do you know when to run the offense instead of attacking the basket right away:
“It depends on rhythm of the game, I guess. If you are hitting shots or if you are not. If you get the ball, go, then if you have someone open take advantage of that, but if not, pull the ball back out and do what you do best.”
On if he takes pride in the fact that Coach Self refers to him as a cerebral player:
“Yes, I just try to be aware of everything around me. If you are not playing in the game it makes it easier, you see things slower. I have been here for awhile so I think the game is a little slower to me than to some other people.”
On what he thinks his role on the team is:
“To play defense, rebound, get the ball inside, hit open shots, do little things to make our team better. We have the guys that can score, we have guys that can be big-time NBA players so making things easier for them is a pretty big role.”
