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.

• The ideal amount of minutes for Tyshawn Taylor and Thomas Robinson would be 32-33 minutes. Self gave the guys the last two days off to recharge their batteries. KU doesn’t practice a very long time. On Thursday, KU will practice about an hour and a half.

• Jeff Withey is a guy that averaged three minutes a game last year. It is pretty much out of left field to be the player he has been the last week and a half. His performance has taken KU to another level. If you’re a 7-foot player and playing 24 minutes a game at KU, you should average nine points and seven rebounds per game. That should be a given.

• Self sent Withey to the free throw line against Baylor to put him in that situation just in case KU ever needed him to shoot in that situation down the road. It’s different shooting at the line with no one else around you. Withey had another opportunity to shoot those free throws against Kansas State.

• If you look at Withey’s last three games, almost all of his shots have been layups. Withey is playing great, but he’s making easy plays. Usually there’s a reason a guy has a good game, and sometimes it’s because of the way an opponent guards the rest of the team. Withey’s two tip-ins against Kansas State were unbelievable plays. He’s been so much more aggressive. He’s going after the ball.

• Self says he talks about the Big 12 standings every day. KU keeps track of the standings in the film room. KU does think about those standings. In a basketball game, the last four minutes are the most important, because if you mess up, there’s no time to recover. The same can be said about the standings. The end schedule is important because there’s less time for a team to make up for a loss.

• To Self, the postseason is the most important season, and part of that is because the media has made it that way. It’s called the “Road to the Final Four.” CBS has done a great job promoting it. There are Bracketology sites out there. Self thinks sometimes the conference season is lost out there. Self asked if the New York Giants were better than the Green Bay Packers this year. The Giants had a better three weeks. If a team wins the Big 12, you can be considered one of the teams that is a contender to cut down the nets in April. Playing bad one day is awful and you don’t want it to happen, but Self thinks how you play over 2 1/2 months should be more important.

• Self doesn’t know if having a limited rotation will be good or bad for the NCAA Tournament. If you look at Syracuse, it started this season playing 10-11 guys, and that rotation has been whittled down. Self doesn’t think a lot of teams want to go more than an eight-man rotation. Self is fine with what he has.

• Elijah Johnson has been playing fine. He’s played really good defense lately, especially against Baylor’s Brady Heslip. Johnson just isn’t making shots. Self is just waiting for Johnson to hit his hot stretch. Travis Releford had that kind of offensive stretch earlier in the year, and Jeff Withey is in the midst of a stretch like that right now.

• Self would describe Taylor’s career at KU as inconsistent but terrific. He averaged 10.0 in points for his high school team, and now he’s averaging 18 points per game at Kansas. That’s a big jump. One of Taylor’s best strengths is that he’s emotional, and one of his biggest weaknesses is sometimes that he gets too emotional. While he’s been starting point guard for the last three years, KU has only lost 11 games. He’s a big reason for that. Taylor is Self’s kind of guy. Self doesn’t know if he could enjoy coaching a player more than Taylor the last few months. The things that have gotten him in trouble have been Tweeting and Facebook. That might not be talked about at smaller programs.

• Self doesn’t worry about late-game free throws. He never has. He worries about turnovers and stuff like that. KU can practice that. Taylor has to have confidence and courage and step up and make free throws late. Self’s not going to do anything to have Taylor improve in making late-game free throws. Taylor is a guy who’s never going to be an 80-percent free throw shooter, because that’s not what he is. But he needs to make them when it counts the most down the stretch.

• Self thinks when Taylor shoots less, KU is a better team. When he shoots more, it’s when KU is running crap offense and the team needs him to score. Sherron Collins was the same way. Collins scored all his points in close games that KU needed to win. Taylor is a guy who may end up scoring 20 points on 17 shots, but that will be good because it will be in a game when KU has nothing going offensively.

• Self says Taylor is unique as a point guard, because he doesn’t think he’s ever coached a guard that is that tall and that fast at the same time. Taylor doesn’t think the game like Deron Williams or Aaron Miles. He doesn’t have the ability to make shots consistently like Sherron. But none of them had the speed that he has or the courage to get in there and make plays. Self wondered aloud whether KU’s had a guard during his tenure that has played better over a six-week stretch than Taylor has the last six weeks. It’s pretty good. Sherron didn’t have a stretch like this, and neither did Mario Chalmers, partly because they played on teams where they could defer. On this team, Taylor can’t defer. He’s been solid for KU.

• Self thinks Thomas Robinson has been the Big 12 player of the year. You could make a case for Tyshawn Taylor and Missouri’s Marcus Denmon. Self thinks those three have distanced themselves in that discussion.

• Texas Tech will muddy the game up. The last game between the two teams, KU and Texas Tech set ball back a few years. It was around 16-15 with about eight minutes left. Self doesn’t think winning ugly is bad at all, though. The KU-KSU game was a lot like a Big Ten game on Monday.

• Self thinks Wichita Heights with Perry Ellis has to go down as one of the premier teams in Kansas basketball history. What Ellis has done under pressure with the expectations high has been impressive to Self. It’s remarkable the high school career he’s had. Self is most excited to coach his athletic ability. That kid can run and jump. Self thinks it’s going to be exciting to watch how he progresses. His athletic ability allows him a chance to be great.