|
Coach Bill Self: Live Chat
Coach Self will participate in a live online chat with fans on Monday, March 8 at 3 PM CT. He will answer questions about the 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!
|
 |
 |
 |
Moderator: Thanks for joining, everyone. Coach Self is here and ready to start taking your questions… |
|
|
| Jason (Mission, KS): What do you think is the importance or value of being a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament? Would you rather be a #2 seed where there might be a little less pressure and attention? |
 |
|
Coach Self: I don’t know that there’s great value to being the #1 seed. The bottom line is that you’re going to have to beat good teams regardless of what your seed is to get where you want to go, so it’s really not that relevant. That being said, I think playing at Kansas there is just as much pressure being a #2 seed as there is being a #1. Hopefully this team, being ranked #1 the majority of the season, has already experienced that pressure and will hopefully handle it well going into the tournament. |
|
|
| Melinda (St. Louis): What are three keys to having a successful run in March? |
|
|
Coach Self: Three keys in having a successful run in March–the biggest key is having no distractions. Secondly, have your best players play well. And finally, draw good match-ups. |
|
|
| Reanna (Oklahoma City): Coach–how much do you depend on your team managers? |
|
|
Coach Self: We depend on our team managers quite a bit. I believe we have eight managers and they do a lot of everything. They work in the office, they help with recruiting mail-outs and things like that, they do everything in preparing for practice and games from an equipment standpoint, and on the practice floor they’re involved with drills and keeping the clock to keep practice running relatively smoothly. |
|
|
| Kelly Ann (Omaha): I think people underestimate what Morningstar can provide to this team coming off the bench. He is not always scoring, but he makes an impact on plays. Sometimes it seems like you get more upset with him than anyone else when he makes a mistake. Can you talk about the challenge of having to coach different players in different ways during the course of one game? |
|
|
Coach Self: I believe in general people do underestimate what a good player Brady Morningstar is. He can do a little bit of everything–he’s a good shooter, he’s probably our best post-feeder, and he’s probably our best perimeter defender–and I do rattle his cage as much as anybody when I feel like he’s made mental mistakes, because I don’t think that is something he should be doing. But rarely do I have to get onto him from an effort standpoint. And I don’t consider it a challenge, but everybody is motivated differently. Some you have to get onto, others you have to coddle. But this time of year the majority of getting onto them is over. It’s time now for things to be positive coming out of a coach’s mouth, especially during the games. |
|
|
| Kyle (Wichita): Great win Wednesday Coach! What is your typical practice schedule on the next couple days after a tough win like that? |
|
|
Coach Self: It was a great win Wednesday, and we also had another great win Saturday. After the Wednesday game we just met and talked on Thursday and then practiced for an hour and a half on Friday before getting on the bus. I think it’s very difficult to have hard practices when you know your team is mentally drained, and I thought Wednesday night took a lot out of all of us. |
|
|
| Brian S. (Shawnee, KS): Great season so far coach! My question is: was the triangle and 2 defense against k-state something you practiced or did you feel it was necessary at that time? |
|
|
Coach Self: We have used the triangle and 2 against K-State in years past and we certainly did this year–it’s something that we do practice. We have it as something that we do–but we probably only spend 15-20 minutes a week on it unless we feel like we can use it as a weapon in the upcoming game. In the two games we played against K-State I do think the triangle and 2 helped us on both occasions. |
|
|
| Larry G. (Golden, Colorado): Isn’t it in our best interest if our three big men set MORE screens for each other, throughout the whole game, so that they can roll easier to the basket and we get better and higher percentage shots? |
|
|
Coach Self: The majority of our screening is littles-on-bigs or bigs-on-littles–we do have a couple of things that we do where we set big-on-big which may force a switch, but I’m not a big proponent of setting a lot of big-big screens because the majority of big-big screens are easy switches. Now, if we had a guy that we were trying to play to a mismatch on the perimeter to get the ball inside, we could do that, but we do some things to create some subtle switches if we can–maybe a big-big screen into a ball-screen, where now you have a smaller 4-man guarding a big on the post. But we don’t do a lot of that, never have. |
|
|
|
Moderator: Congratulations to Miles from Hays, KS–his question was chosen as the Question of the Day! |
|
|
| Miles (Hays, KS): What basketball win is your favorite and why? |
|
|
Coach Self: I hope that we still haven’t had our favorite basketball win. But right now without question my favorite win ever was beating Memphis in `08. Because then there’s absolutely no reason to be concerned with preparation for the next game. Coaches very rarely get a chance to enjoy their wins, but I did figure out that if you win the last one, you can. So hopefully my favorite wins are still ahead, but in order to come close to that win, we’ll have to win it all. |
|
|
| Stacy (Fairway, KS): I was wondering if C.J. Henry is still injured. I miss his ability to come into the game off the bench and hit the 3. I think he will be a valuable asset in tournament time. |
|
|
Coach Self: C.J. is still injured. He’s practiced part-time and had an opportunity to go into the game against Missouri, but really hasn’t felt up to it. His body has failed him here–from an ankle, to a hip, to a knee–he’s had a variety of minor injuries that have kept him from being whole. So I really don’t think C.J. will have a chance to impact our team the rest of the season from a game standpoint, but certainly he’s been great in practice. |
|
|
| Jerry (Lynn Haven, Florida): Coach, this has been an awesome season so far. I saw where Cole said it wasn’t a done deal on him going pro after the season. I would love to see him back next year. What are your thoughts on Cole leaving after this year, and how bad would you like to see him stay another year. Love the Jayhawks! |
|
|
Coach Self: One of the great things about Cole is that he hasn’t let the talk of the NBA become a distraction for him at all. When the time is right–and hopefully that’s not until the second week in April–he’ll sit down and evaluate his situation. From my standpoint, if it’s true what I’m hearing on where he could potentially be drafted, I think it would be in his best interest to pursue that. I know that those opportunities aren’t ever guaranteed. But he hasn’t made a decision and I haven’t either because down the road we’re going to get facts as opposed to hearsay. |
|
|
|
Moderator: That’s all the time we have for this afternoon–thanks to Coach for giving us a few minutes and to everyone who joined in. Check back later in the week to see what we’ve got planned as we head into the Big 12 and NCAA Tournaments.Rock Chalk! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Name (City): |
|
|
|
| Submit your question here: |
|
|
|
|
|
