Archive for Monday, February 8, 2010
Self on Big 12 race: “There’s no way it can be ended tonight”
Kansas coach comments during Monday morning teleconference
Kansas head coach Bill Self grabs the attention of his players during the second half against UCLA, Sunday, Dec 6, 2009 at Pauley Pavilion.
February 8, 2010
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Austin, Texas — Kansas University basketball coach Bill Self disagrees with those who say his Jayhawks can wrap up the Big 12 regular-season title with a win tonight at Texas.
“There’s no way it can be ended tonight. Hey, we started 10-0 a few years ago and lost four of our last six,” Self said, speaking from 10 until 10:10 a.m., Monday, on the Big 12 coaches teleconference.
He was referring to the 2004-05 season in which KU opened 10-0, then closed poorly in tying for the conference crown. “No way it’ll be ended tonight either way. There are a lot of games left.”
KU opens the 8 p.m. contest at 8-0 in the league, with Texas A&M and Kansas State at 6-3 and Texas and Missouri at 5-3.
“I don’t think we’re going to have to talk about the league race to get our guys amped up to play. This is Texas and Kansas. I think that right there in itself is plenty to get the guys jacked up,” Self said.
Texas enters having dropped two of its last three league games and three of five.
“The whole thing is they are fine. As the season plays out, that will play out to be the case,” Self said of the 19-4 Longhorns.
This opens a stretch of three straight Big Mondays for KU. The Jayhawks travel to Texas A&M next Monday then play host to Oklahoma on Feb. 22.
“It really is,” Self said asked if that is a demanding slate. “The thing is we played in Boulder and got back at 4 a.m. (Thursday). We took Thursday off and had one day prep for Nebraska and one for Texas. That’s not a perfect world for any coach. But it’s great exposure. You’ll never hear us complain about being on Big Monday, but three in a row like that with two of ‘em being on the road, I think it’s a tough draw. By the end of the day hopefully it’ll make us a little bit tougher and harder.”
Asked about entering as the country’s No. 1 team for the second straight week, he said: “Being No. 1 this time of year means very little. It’s nice from a fan standpoint. We don’t put our hope in, or our thoughts into, ‘Hey we’ve got to protect something.’ We don’t need to protect anything. We just need to play as hard as we can and enjoy and embrace whatever comes our way because it makes us tougher and harder. Maybe we’ve handled it better (than some teams), maybe we haven’t. We’ll find out a lot more. Just because you are No. 1 and lose doesn’t mean it’s because of the ranking. It’s probably because you played away from home and just got beat.”
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Comments
SoonerNation1 (anonymous) says…
Thats just his way of downplaying the situation...... truth be told the big XII race is already over
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barrypenders (anonymous) says…
Collins foul favoritism by the Refs will take the Hawks a ways.
Stimulus, Favoritism, and Posercare live unprecedented
Darwin bless us
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riverdrifter (anonymous) says…
How much of the front end of the game will be missed because of ESPN's unrealistic scheduling? Schedule the start of the game for 815pm for pete's sake.
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redfred (anonymous) says…
And these "student athletes" are students when?
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Scruggsy (anonymous) says…
I agree riverdirfter. Always frustrating waiting for the never ending Big East hack fest to end first...
Almost as frustrating as anti-sports commentors showing up on every single KU sports thread. We don't take your political threads totally off topic, do we???
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yankeevet (anonymous) says…
Go Texas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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puddleglum (anonymous) says…
yeah, go texas.
sorry yankeevet-your kittykats are done.
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Eride (anonymous) says…
"riverdrifter (Anonymous) says…
How much of the front end of the game will be missed because of ESPN's unrealistic scheduling? Schedule the start of the game for 815pm for pete's sake."
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Especially when you miss the beginning 10 minutes of a game for the last minute of a 12 point advantage game to finish because the other team is still fouling for some reason...
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jkilgore (anonymous) says…
Eride et al.,
It just came to me why they don't do us right: money. They're cramming as much bball into as little time as they can so that they can gulp down those tasty ad dollars.
I have wondered about this for awhile. Any other ideas?
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Eride (anonymous) says…
Just cut out of the game that is 99.8% over and switch to the game that is starting. I wouldn't be complaining of the game was still competitive (even if it is KU). The problem is they stick with the games that are *basically* statistically impossible to win while the coaches let their players continue to foul for... well, I don't know why, just to be dbags I guess.
That way the network gets its money and basketball fans can watch the most *competitive* basketball possible.
No one wants to watch the last minute of a game that is *over* for 10 minutes over the beginning 10 minutes of a competitive game. It is just asinine.
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TopJayhawk (anonymous) says…
The Big East primps and prances, and foul and foul. I also have never figured out why if you are up by eight or ten with less than a minute left, why on earth would you foul. Yet they do all the time. It is mindless. Then the refs stand with the ball. I think the refs like their air-time in the Big East.
It is just baffling.
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TopJayhawk (anonymous) says…
Kilgore
Actually they would make more money if Big Monday lasted longer. More air time, more commercial time.
But you also have a silly west coast game after the Big 12 game.
Pac-10 oooh what a joke.
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