Cliff’s Notes version: Bill Self press conference, 3/8/2010

Here is the Cliff’s Notes version of Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self’s comments at his weekly press conference today.

Full audio has been posted.

• KU is the 265th-oldest team in America. The 2008 team was experienced and had been there. It’s not a negative statement for this year’s team. It’s just a statement that KU has balance, which is great, but it still needs Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich to produce.

• Aldrich and Collins will step up. The best players on each team need to play well. They’ve been pretty consistent all year long, but Self thinks there’s a different gear that they can get to. Primarily Aldrich. He needs to be a presence inside.

• The ’08 team was a focused, focused group. It’s easy to say your team is focused, but it’s hard to say that it is until all those distractions come. If everyone can focus on what’s happening in the basketball family, then the players should be fine.

• There’s no question this is Sherron’s team. And Cole is right there as well. Both guys will educate the guys on how certain situations should be handled.

• Last year, if one guy out of two didn’t play well, KU didn’t have a good chance to win. This year, different guys can step up on those nights. Last year, KU’s third-leading scorer averaged seven points per game in the NCAA Tournament.

• KU has gotten better in the last month and has gotten better individually. Rarely this year has KU had six or seven of its eight players in the rotation play well at the same time. The most important players to play well are Cole and Sherron. It’s nice to see how the bench has played lately, though, primarily Tyrel Reed and Markieff Morris. Brady Morningstar has been consistent, too.

• Playing in a conference tournament game Sunday is tough. Self thinks the league moving the championship game to Saturday is a wise move.

• It’s hard to pick a darkhorse in this year’s Big 12 Tournament because the league is so top-heavy. Seven Big 12 teams are going to be in the NCAA Tournament, and any team that can make it there is good enough to win the Big 12 Tournament.

• It’s the point in the year where your play will determine where you’re ranked. Self just wants to play like a team that deserves to be No. 1. Self has had teams before that have been a three seed that was playing like a six or seven seed, and he’s had a four seed that was playing as well as any one seed. So much of it is matchups. It’s nice to be ranked No. 1, but this time of year it means less than the opening rankings.

• Sometimes it’s a disadvantage staying close to home in the NCAA Tournament, because sometimes that offers more distractions. Self isn’t saying that would be the case with this team.

• Brady has played well lately. He made the biggest shot of the game against K-State. He was in a little bit of a funk and hadn’t seen the ball go in. It was good to see him play well last week.

• Mario Little and Travis Releford are probably two of the most talented red-shirts in the country. They’ve both gotten a lot better. They’re better basketball players now than they were in October. With a red-shirt, they can advance their offensive skills, because Self won’t get mad at them for taking shots in practice.

• Self hopes Xavier Henry is on an uptick toward tournament play. He’s been playing well. He didn’t score a lot against Missouri because of the way the Tigers defended. Self hopes everyone play well, but it’s definitely nice to have your best shooters shooting well at this point in the year.

• A team’s “magic level” is where its energy and focus and concentration come together to give it the best chance. KU has played that way about 10-15 times this year. That doesn’t necessarily mean the team is hitting shots. That means playing with energy while still being focused without being overhyped.

• KU’s defense is much better at this point this week than it was last year. The Jayhawks did some bull-fighting on defense two weeks ago, but now KU is getting better and putting up resistance.

• KU has done a better job of getting out to three-point shooters. KU hasn’t changed who it is. If a team is really turned up, it can get to shooters a half-step quicker. It’s not one technique that you do differently, it’s just guys being turned up.

• KU will be prepared for both Texas Tech and Colorado. The scouting report is done for both teams.

• Self hasn’t thought much about getting to 2,000 wins, but having that milestone within reach and also having the memory of the loss in the first round of the Big 12 tournament last year hopefully will make Thursday a good day for the program. The milestone is a reason for fans to be proud of the program.

• Playing the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City is a benefit because it’s closer to home. The players get to sleep in their own beds on Tuesday night. Any time you play close to home and your fanbase can come see you play, it’s an advantage for that team.