Kansas Coach Bill Self Meets with the Media Wednesday

Nov. 28, 2012

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Kansas Head coach Bill Self

On Andrew White’s three-point shooting:

“That’s what he (Andrew White) does best right now, is shoot it. In all honesty, I’m ok with that. He needs to take care of the basketball and understand a little bit more about what we are doing. Andrew is going to be a good player. He reminds me a lot of Conner (Teahan) but it’s going to take him a little time to get comfortable.”

On Oregon State’s balanced team with four players scoring in double figures:

“Really they had a guy (Angus Brandt) or it would be five. They are huge. They are really, really long. They will probably be about as big a team that we will play this year. From a height standpoint, they remind me of what Baylor was like last year with 6-8 and 6-9 at the three (position). They are a good team. They play a little bit unconventional because they play a variance of the Princeton style. The last time we saw that was Colorado when they were in the league. It will be new to our guys.”

On the four position (power forward):

“If we’re talking about defense and rebounding, Jamari (Traylor) may be ahead of everybody. If we’re talking about offense, I think Perry (Ellis) is ahead of everybody. If we’re talking about understanding and stealing possessions, I think Kevin (Young) is ahead of everybody. And if we combine those three guys the other night (vs. San Jose State), we got very little out of any of them. But there have been times when you combine them and it is really good production. That’s still a situation I think is pretty inconsistent and those guys should be fighting for minutes every day.”

On being inconsistent at the guard and wing positions:

“The problem is Ben (McLemore) doesn’t shoot many free throws. Elijah (Johnson) doesn’t shoot any free throws. Travis (Releford) is shooting the most free throws and he’s shot 17-for-19 for the year. In six games our three man that has shot the most free throws is averaging three a game. That’s not any good. Your point guard has taken seven (free throws) for the year. I bet you a good portion of Ben’s (free throws) are while he’s shooting jump shots and not attacking the rim. That to me is the telling stat on why we are inconsistent (offensively).”

“I know it’s fixable. It’s a mindset to me more than anything. In practice we’ve actually looked better as far as executing and running offense to score and being more aggressive. For whatever reason, in the games, we haven’t been. We haven’t put pressure on anybody. It amazes me that the way we play over the years that an opponent in our fieldhouse doesn’t get to the bonus defensively. It blows my mind because we don’t put enough pressure on them to get to the bonus. The ball has to touch the paint and it’s got to get there off the bounce or the pass and we’ve got to do a better job of getting it there and playing behind that as opposed to not being in attack mode.”

On if Elijah Johnson is still recovering from knee surgery from after last season:

“I learned a long time ago, if you’re out there, you got to perform. There’s nothing structurally going on with him, so if he doesn’t quite have the same pop that he had before, then he shouldn’t be out there. If you’re out there, we expect it. I think that’s the way it is with any athlete. I learned that from Keith Langford’s mother (Charlene Taylor) back when he played. I kept saying, ‘but his knee is bothering him.’ She said, ‘whoa, whoa, whoa… if he’s out there, he’s got to produce or he shouldn’t be out there.’ And that’s coming from a mother. So I don’t get those comments very often from mothers. That is the reality of it. He’s got to produce.”

On three-point shooting being a concern:

“If Andrew (White) can get more minutes, then that will improve our three-point shooting. Naadir (Tharpe) has shot it terrible statistically and Ben (McLemore) goes 0-for-7 (vs. San Jose State) and that doesn’t look good to anybody. Travis (Releford) started out 0-for-11. If we’re shooting 29 (percent), I think over the course of the season we could shoot 35 to 38 percent shooting team but we have not got off to a good start, no question and going 2-for-21 in your first game does not help much.”

On Coach Ray Bechard and the success of the Kansas volleyball team:

“I think everybody if very happy for the volleyball program in general but I’m really happy for Ray (Bechard). Ray’s been here a long time, quite a bit longer than I have. He’s had some great years here and a couple of years recently that haven’t been as good. To see what he and his staff has done with this group is amazing to me. To see us back on the national scene in volleyball is great. To be able to host (NCAA Tournament) and play in Allen (Fieldhouse) will be great for his girls. I think they’ll love that. Hopefully our fans will support them.”

Jeff Withey’s shot blocking with only five fouls for the season:

“That’s unbelievable. Of course, Wilt (Chamberlain) never fouled out of a game, did he? Think about this, we played six games and you’re a big guy, maybe not as aggressive as you need to be. But on the flip side, it does show that his timing is off the charts and his ability to stay away from body contact when he’s blocking balls is tremendous. I thought the other night we played really poor defense many possessions and he just absolutely bailed us out.”

On Oregon State coach Craig Robinson:

“Craig and I played against each other in 1983 in Corvallis, Oregon, in the NCAA Tournament. He played for Pete Carril at Princeton and our (Oklahoma State) immaturity and lack of discipline allowed Princeton to beat us 56-53 running all their stuff. That was the year NC State goes on and wins (the NCAA Championship) and NC State was in Corvallis with us as well. Craig was a good player at Princeton and he’s had remarkable success since. He’s a good guy. You would think he has a little bit more juice making recruiting calls over the last four years and the next four years than most college coaches would. I wonder if he introduces himself as Coach Robinson or I am the President’s (Barack Obama) brother-in-law.”