Bill Self Press Conference Quotes, 2-5

Feb. 7, 2005

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

On C.J. Giles and Alex Galindo:
“They both said that they feel better but neither one has done much. Hopefully, they can both practice sometime this week — but I don’t know when. I think we will get Alex back sometime this week for sure and C.J. sometime soon. This will be C.J.’s fourth week out. He hasn’t played since the Iowa State game in Ames. He can do bicycle but that’s about it.”

On KU’s streak over Kansas State:
“I respect it immensely. It is a remarkable streak. Kansas has had some good teams and has been the recipient of some good luck and breaks over the years. The streak is something for the media to talk about — which I understand. I haven’t been a part of anything except for one win in Manhattan. Our players haven’t been a part of many games there and some haven’t been a part of any games. From my perspective, I think it is blown way out of proportion.”

On Kansas State using the streak as motivation:
“We haven’t talked about K-State yet. Our players know we are playing an in-state rival on Wednesday. We will talk today and I will be sure to let them know that they will be using the streak as motivation. That doesn’t mean anything to us. Winning in Manhattan in 1989 doesn’t mean anything to us winning in 2005. I think as a coach, you use what you can to give your team the best chance. This game is important to all of their fans, just like the KU/K-State football game was important to all of our fans. We understand that.”

On Kansas State:
“They have a very nice team. They are disappointed with the game against Colorado. I think they are much improved, certainly they have shot the ball great. They are shooting over 40 percent from behind the arc in conference play as well as the whole season. I think he (Jim Wooldridge) has done a great job.”

On Jeremiah Massey:
“I think he is one of the most underrated players and he is without question one of the most productive. He is shooting right at 50 percent on the season and he gets fouled a lot. He is really a nice player that is hard to guard. He is a tough matchup.”

On K-State guards Clent Stewart and Fred Peete:
“He (Stewart) really isn’t much of surprise to me. I thought he would be a really good player when he was in high school. We watched him a lot. I think that he is really solid and a very good guard. Peete just has a knack for getting the ball in the basket. He is a natural scorer and they compliment each other very well.”

On KU’s shortened bench:
“The positive is that we are playing better. The negative is that guys could be getting frustrated because they are not playing. I haven’t sensed the frustration yet. We played our starters more against Nebraska, but no starters played more than 30 minutes against Texas. I think it will help us. Guys play better when they know who they are playing with. We thought we would do this all along. This is not permanent. The nine we are playing now could be a different nine. I feel that we will play better if we play nine, maybe 10 at the most.”

On the Big 12 standings:
“It is a small lead at halftime. We are happy that we are on top. The first half of the conference season is not as important as the second half. We have put ourselves in good spot but we know that the second half of our conference schedule is a lot tougher. The places we have to go on the road are quite a bit tougher than the places we have been. We have Missouri and Kansas State plus Oklahoma and Texas Tech on the road.”

On road games:
“I think we have played well on the road. We played bad enough in one game to account for the rest of the season, so I think we should play well on the road.”

On Big 12 freshmen:
“There are a lot of good freshmen. Our freshmen are good freshmen, but you have three seniors and a guy that is projected to be an NBA player and another guy that is playing minutes. So basically, there are about 40 minutes for our guys to fight over where other teams may have more than that. I do think that the freshmen in this league are very good.

On J.R. Giddens’ defense:
“I think it is much improved. He was active the other day with long arms and he blocked some shots and had some steals. I think he is moving his feet a lot better. He is taking a lot of pride in it right now too.”

On the team’s rebounding efforts:
“I think it is better. Nebraska is one of the best rebounding teams in the league and I think we out-rebounded them by four. We also out-rebounded Missouri by two or four. Not dominant numbers, but better than it has been. I think we are doing a marginally better job, but there is still room for improvement.”

On zone defense:
“I would say that we will use it as a situational proponent. It has helped us the last two games. It has disrupted team’s rhythm and made for long possessions.”