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| Coach Bill Self |
Coach Bill Self: Live Chat
Coach Self will participate in a live online chat with fans on Wednesday, February 17 at 3 PM CT. He will answer questions about the Kansas program as well as non-hoops related inquiries, so get creative!
Use the form below to submit your question in advance to be answered on the day of the chat.
**NOTE: Please include your email address in your message so you can be entered into the running for Question of the Day. Coach Self will select one question from the chat and that person will receive a signed t-shirt. Be sure we have a way to reach you!
Rock Chalk!
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Moderator: Thanks to everyone joining in today–it looks like we’re getting a ton of questions for Coach Self to choose from. He’ll be joining us in just a minute–and remember he’ll choose one Question of the Day and that person will receive a signed t-shirt and other goodies. |
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Moderator: Okay Jayhawk Fans, Coach Self is with us and ready to answer some questions. Let’s get started! |
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| Michelle (Clearwater, KS): Do you and your players enjoy the youth camps as much as you appear to? My son went to the Winter camp this year and I was amazed and very impressed by your interaction with the kids. I would think with all the stresses of being the coach of the nations number one team it might be difficult to do. Thank you so much and good luck the remainder of the season. Go Jayhawks!!! |
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Coach Self: Our players and coaches all enjoy the youth camps–whether it be the summer camps or our holiday clinic or the Special Olympics clinic–it doesn’t matter. I think that you can kind of tell the character of a lot of people, especially college kids, by how they enjoy interacting with young kids. Much to our liking, I think our players do as good a job as any group I’ve ever been around in terms of actually enjoying it and not having to fake their way through it at all. |
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| Rob (Phoenix, AZ): How do you feel about having to play two straight Saturday/Monday games this late in the season, when both Monday games are on the road? |
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Coach Self: I enjoy playing on Big Monday. I think it brings great exposure to our program. We play four out of five Mondays this year, I think, and three in a row, and I do think that is very hard on our players. To play at home on a Saturday night, have basically no prep for Monday’s game except for a 30 to 45 minute workout on Sunday, then travel, play 8 PM, then not get back home and in bed til 4 am–those days do take a wear and tear on our players. But I also think that since we won those games its made us a little bit tougher, too. |
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| Kelsey (Wisconsin): Coach Self, do you have a favorite pregame meal? Thanks for taking the time to do this. |
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Coach Self: I do not have a favorite pregame meal, even though I eat the same thing every meal. I’m very superstitious, so for pregame I’ll always have steak and maybe green beans and that is it because I like working out usually right before or after pregame meal. I’m superstitious so whether I liked the food or not if it helped us win the previous game, I’m going to eat the same thing. |
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| Trista (Wichita, KS): Hey Coach Self! I wanted to tell you Congratulations on 400 career wins. The commentators made it a point to say that this is the time in the season where practices become shorter so that the players can save their energy to be used at the end of games. With that being said is there anything specific that you emphasize at every practice? |
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Coach Self: This time of year I think all coaches try to shorten their practices. It is a long season, it’s a long grind, and it’s a season that basically starts the first day of classes with lifting and individual improvements from a playing standpoint–but where you notice you get as tired as anything is when you become not quite as mentally sharp. It is a grind, especially on young kids that haven’t been through it before. So we do shorten practices and try to keep them off their feet as much as possible, and we emphasize every day in practice the things we think are most important to give us the best chance to win. I still think being sound defensively and half-court offensive execution are probably the two things we work on more than anything else. |
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| Wendy W.: What do you do in your “free time” when you are not coaching the rockin chalkin jayhawks? |
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Coach Self: I really don’t do much in my free time. I like spending time at home, I love to play golf, I like watching ball regardless of who’s playing. I wish I was more of a workout guy, but I’m really not. What I really enjoy in my free time is hanging out with the people I’m closest with in a social setting, not just around the office, and that would be my assistant coaches. So if you see me when I’m not working it’s probably still with the guys I work with. |
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Moderator: The next question is Coach Self’s Question of the Day selection. Congrats to Sean from Lincoln–we’ll email you after the chat wraps up. |
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| Sean (Lincoln, NE): Coach Self, what will you be feeling on March 3 when Sherron runs out of the tunnel the last time? |
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Coach Self: I very rarely get emotional about a senior day or about a game or whatnot, and even if I do, very rarely would I ever want anybody to see me that way. But on March 3, it will be an emotional day for me. I think Sherron has given me as much joy coaching him as any player that I’ve had, but what I’m most proud about is how Sherron has allowed this place to change him to become a better man. It will be one of the happiest days to see him run out of the tunnel and see him be celebrated on senior day because he’s given so much of himself to make this place better. I don’t think anybody should be sad, I think we should all be very happy and very proud for him. |
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| Josh H. (Chicago, IL): Cole seems to block 5 shots and alter another 5 shots in every game. Describe his impact on the defensive end. Rock Chalk! |
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Coach Self: Cole doesn’t block five shots a game, but it certainly seems like he does. I do think he alters five to ten shots a game in addition to the shots that he blocks. We take Cole for granted. Sometimes he doesn’t get out and do a great job on a ball-screen defense or whatever, but it sure is nice to have a guy like that in the back that can make up for other people’s mistakes and I do think he’s about as good a defensive post guy as I’ve ever been around. |
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| Jerry (Lynn Haven, Florida): Great win on Monday Coach! Do you feel this team is getting there on being tough when the offense is not there on a given night? You guys are great, and it’s been great watching this team come together. |
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Coach Self: It was a great win on Monday night and I do think our team is getting better and getting tougher. And fans should understand, you usually never score as many points on the road, especially when we’re playing teams that emphasize similar things, like A&M does. But our offense was not good the other night. And I don’t know if it was as much our offense as it was that we just didn’t make shots and had a couple guys with off nights. It has been fun watching this team come together. And the reason we are coming together is that guys are really understanding that if the other team can’t score, we’re not going to lose. |
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| Lisa (Omaha): Thus far, the team has figured out a way to win even if it hasn’t been pretty. . . is there a key player to the team’s overall performance? Who is the go-to guy when the game is on the line? |
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Coach Self: You know, our team has figured out a way to win games that we haven’t played great in for the most part. But we’ve only played seven games that have been decided by single figures. We haven’t played that many close games, but we have had some in league play. So I think this has been good for us. But the two keys to our performance are Cole and Sherron–there are other key players, but those two dictate how we play more than anybody else. And when the game is on the line, I have more confidence in having the ball in the hands of #4 than anybody else. |
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Moderator: That is all the time Coach has today–he’s gotta get to practice. Thanks again to everyone who joined and submitted questions, and congrats to Sean from Lincoln for the Question of the Day.
We’ll have another chat time posted for next week, so check BillSelf.com for details in the next day or two.
Rock Chalk!
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