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| Coach Self |
Coach Self Live Chat
Coach Self was online to answer questions from Jayhawk fans on Thursday, January 28 at 4:00 PM.
The full transcript of the chat is below.
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Moderator: Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. Coach Self is here and will take some questions now before he has to head off to practice. |
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| Peter A.(Dallas): This year we are seeing less double teaming on high ball screens on defense. Is that because of the defensive capabilities of this roster or a change in defensive philosophy? Any chance of bringing it back? |
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Coach Self: This year we probably have doubled high-ball screens less up until just recently. We are trying to do that more often. The situation is that we’ve probably adjusted our defense a little bit to protect Cole. I think we need to become more aggressive, which we are doing and it has been somewhat effective the last few games. |
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| Steve McDuffie (Lawrence, KS): With so much young talent and returning veterans do you have trouble finding time or deciding who will play minutes? |
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Coach Self: We do have a lot of young talent. And it is tough with this many players that I feel deserve to play to find time or decide who will play the minutes. But at this time of year experimentation is basically over. We are playing the guys that we feel give us the chance to win that particular game and the guys that we feel like will give us the best chance later on in the season. I wish we could play ten consistently, but I don’t believe that will be the case. |
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| Brendan (Chicago): What type of music does a Bill Self listen to regularly? |
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Coach Self: My favorite type of music is classic rock `n roll. If I could listen to Springsteen, Journey, Dylan, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin–any of those going back to the 70’s and early 80’s would be my favorites. And you can also sprinkle in some Earth, Wind & Fire, Commodores and some Luther Vandross. |
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| Mike (Hutchinson): Love my Jayhawks, thanks for the memories and entertainment. My question is: How is Withey progressing? And are his feet big enough to fill Cole’s shoes, so to speak? |
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Coach Self: I think Jeff Withey is progressing and I thought he was great for us against Iowa State. Against Missouri he didn’t get a chance to play much in large part because Cole was effective and Missouri obviously played very small. A lot of it will be dependent upon situations, but I believe in the future Jeff will play a huge role for us. |
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| Greg (Gold Canyon, AZ): What do you attribute X’s lack of effort in taking the ball to the basket? Is there some play you could run to help with that problem? |
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Coach Self: I don’t attribute any of our guys’ skill-set weaknesses or things they’re not doing quite as well to a lack of effort. I don’t think that’s even remotely right–if a guy misses a shot, it doesn’t mean he didn’t try. I believe that X does try. He tries to take the ball to the basket and he’s getting better. That’s something he hasn’t done much of ever in his career. We are certainly encouraging him and working on a lot of one-on-one things in practice. |
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| Henry (Olathe, KS): Where do you think KU stands on the next game? Do you think they will overpower us? |
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Coach Self: Our next game is against K-State. I don’t think they will overpower us. But I also think that they could definitely have success against us if we don’t play our very best. I really respect K-State and I think they throw a lot of bigs at you, primarily five and you could even play Sutton as a big, so that gives them six legitimate bigs they can throw at you depending on situations. I think our guys will be ready for the challenge. |
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| Patrick (Overland Park): Hey Coach, in your day or now, where was your best spot to shoot on the floor? And please don’t say right under the hoop! Rock Chalk! |
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Coach Self: I don’t think the game has changed that much since I played. I would say the best spot on the floor to shoot (for a perimeter player) is always the top of the key. That’s the reason they call it a free throw, it’s fifteen feet out and it’s head on–and probably the easiest perimeter shot other than a free throw is a top-of-the-key shot because it is straight on and if you’re off just a little bit it has a better chance of getting in. |
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| Eric (Wichita Falls): Some guys on other teams (like PUllen/K-State) have facial hair and different haircuts but it seems that our players don’t do anything crazy and keep the same style. Do you ask them not to or are there rules about style on your team? |
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Coach Self: One thing about players today is that although they do try to fit into the team concept, they like their individuality. But one thing that we do not allow our players to do here is do anything different from the way that they look or dress every day in practice. So you won’t see our guys having anything more than maybe an unshaven face. I’m big on that and certainly that’s one reason why we don’t have headbands or things like that–if they haven’t done it every day since I’ve known them, then they’re not going to start doing it in games. |
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| Bob (Leavenworth): You used eight men on the scout team and it was very successful against Missouri. Are you doing anything special to prepare for the K-State game? |
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Coach Self: Every time we play Missouri we practice against eight guys. Certainly sometimes it’s successful and sometimes it’s not, but that’s how we do it and I thought it was good preparation for us. Preparing for K-State–they’re also going to pressure us and they do it a little differently; they’re very physical, so one thing we are doing is having the most physical practices that we can. |
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| Jason (Norman): UK and Texas got knocked from the #1 spots as soon as they got it. Given that immense pressure of being at the top, do you even want your team to get the #1 ranking again? They seem to be playing better with a little something to prove. |
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Coach Self: Kentucky and Texas did get knocked from the #1 spot, but I don’t look at that happening because of immense pressure at the top. I look at that as being in conference games or playing tough opponents on the road–that’s usually why teams lose this time of year, they play other good teams. There will not be major upsets with any of the best teams from this point forward in the season. If anything there will be minor upsets because in conference play, anybody can beat anybody. |
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Jim Dodd (chicago): Coach,
Good luck Saturday against KSU. When you take your guys on short road trips like this, do you treat it like any other road game and go in early, stay at a hotel, etc?
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Coach Self: Great question. When we take short road trips we always treat them the same way as other trips. I like our guys to have the same routine away from home. So even if we’re playing in Kansas City, we’ll go over the day before and it’s the same way when we travel to Manhattan or take any other bus trips. |
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Kaylin (Kansas City): Coach Self: Thank you for doing this! It’s awesome to be able to ask you questions.
This is a non-BB question. What was your first car?
Thanks! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
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Coach Self: My first car was a 1974 Cutlass Supreme. It was a car that was passed down to me from my mother, and it had a 455 four-barrel engine and probably got about 6 miles per gallon, but it was something I was very proud of. Back when gas was .35 cents a gallon. |
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Moderator: That’s all we have time for today–thanks to Coach for chatting and thanks to everyone who joined in and submitted questions.
Check BillSelf.com on Monday for the next chat date/time.
Rock Chalk!
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