Bill Self Press Conference Quotes, 12-7
Dec. 7, 2004
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
December 7, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bill Self Press Conference Quotes
On Christian Moody:
“He understands what we are doing more so than the younger guys. It isn’t always who is the better player, sometimes you go with who allows you to be a better team. Right now, he allows us to be a better team, during certain situations. He isn’t going to get 25 minutes often in a game but he certainly deserves minutes. We have to play our young guys more and that is my fault. Christian is the guy that I can see finishing the games. If you are on the floor at the end of the game, those are your five best players. I see him as a guy that plays in crucial situations.”
On the freshmen’s playing time:
“In a perfect world you would probably get 50 minutes out of those four guys. If you can get 15 points and 15 rebounds out of those 50 minutes, you would be productive. They need to play with with energy and they should be fresh when they are in there. Our young guys have to learn how to play with our older guys. What I would like for is one of the freshman to emerge and be a starter. That is not a knock against Christian. We would be better as a team if we could play bigger, if Wayne had the four against him and guard the four. I still see all of their minutes being equal. But I would love for one of them to emerge as a starter. They are doing a nice job, it is just going to take a while for them to become comfortable.”
On TCU:
“TCU is probably the quickest team we will play all year. I would say they will be as athletic of team that we will play. I think that they can give us some problems. They gave us problems last year, they were leading in the second half last year before we went on a run. They can do a lot of things. They do a great job of playing with their hands, swiping at the ball and digging.”
On the firing of USC’s Henry Bibby:
“I don’t know that situation at all. I don’t understand it or get it. There has to be something that is not seen by the outside eye. I think it sends a really bad message that if you get off to a bad start, you get fired. You teach guys that it is a marathon, not a sprint. Even if it is the right thing to do, the appearance leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion.”
On J.R. Giddens:
“I think J.R. has been okay. I don’t think he has been mid-season form, but I don’t think he has been bad either. Teams are going to play him. He has got to learn to play without the basketball to free himself and use screens. I think he has done okay. He hasn’t had a lot of open looks. Teams will crowd him and make him put it down. The thing that he has got to do is be able to play before he gets the ball, that sets up his shot.”
On Wayne Simien being doubled:
“I think it gets frustating for him. He does not have an agenda, he is all about winning. Scorers’ mentality can make people frustated, but great players find a way. He may not have all 20 point games but he can find things to help us win. If he is not that involved and still gets 12 points and 15 rebounds, we will probably still win. He needs to be around 15-to-16 shots every night and get to the free throw line. The only thing he didn’t do against Pacific is get to the free throw line. If he shoots his normal six or eight free throws, he would have had a great stat line.”
On the month of December:
“During finals week you are just trying to schedule a time when you can practice for an hour and a half. Finals week is not an improvement, it is a maintenance week. When school is out, that is when you have to get better. That is when we have to make our most improvement. During that time there is no books, no social time, it is just ball.”
On the Allen Fieldhouse crowd:
“I think there have been times when it has been juiced. Our crowds are great. Every time you walk out on the floor, there is a full house. I think that is harder when you play teams that they are not familiar with, it is harder for them to get amped up about the game. Just like the players do. I think that as we go, the crowds will get more into it. Our student body has been great. There are going to be a lot of games we play where in the last five minutes it will be anyone’s game. Our crowd has to play a role then. I think our crowd has been really good in spots, but I don’t think they have got as geeked up as they are going to be.”
On Illinois being ranked ahead of the Jayhawks:
“They deserve it. To me that is fine. They have done more at this stage and have played better at this point than we have. So they deserve to be ahead of us. They had Wake Forest down 32 and Gonzaga down 39 and we haven’t done anything like that yet. I don’t have any problems with the polls this earlier anyway. Maybe at the end of the season.”
