Self: Patience, not panic, vital to KU success

Kansas University’s 3-4 start to the basketball season has caused some grumbling on talk shows and Internet message boards.

But as far as coach Bill Self can tell, nobody’s abandoned ship.

“I don’t think panic has set in by any means, but in some fans’ minds it’s awful early to be struggling this much,” Self said Thursday at his weekly media session.

“It’ll get thrown out there this is the worst record since so and so (1971-72) … the team went 3-3 three years ago and went to the national-championship game, too. There’s a still a lot that can happen.

“We need to be patient. Coaches need to be patient, and players need to be patient and understand it’s a marathon. We got off to a bad start. It doesn’t mean we can’t kick it in and finish very strong.”

KU’s next test comes against California (6-1) at 11 a.m. Saturday at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.

By then, Self hopes for a new sense of spirit from his players.

“The thing bothersome to me more than anything is the fact I feel like since we got back from Maui there hasn’t been that youthful enthusiasm, high energy that we have to have to play with in

order to have a very good team,” Self said. “We’ll make mistakes you can overcome with energy and enthusiasm.

“I feel they’ve been deflated some over lack of success recently. We must make sure we play at a high energy level. To me, that’s as important as anything else.”

He said the shaky start was not all that shocking.

“It should not be surprising to people that we are going through a rough stretch now,” Self said. “It can be surprising to us we have not had more success than we’ve had so far. We expected to kind of be up-and-down early. We picked a tough schedule to be up-and-down with. That’s another story. I believe we have gotten better. This will be a good basketball team. There’s no doubt, no hesitation with me at all.”

Patience, patience, patience, he said, must be exhibited, “because the kids are trying. We are not missing free throws on purpose to prove a point. The fact of the matter is we are asking some guys to do things they have never done before. It’s something they need to get used to, be comfortable with. We have to help them as opposed to being frustrated with ’em.”

¢ Refuse to lose: KU senior Jeff Hawkins said the team needed a refuse-to-lose attitude.

“I see it a little bit, to some extent (that) it’s OK to lose,” he said of the young team’s attitude. “We need to enforce to the young guys it’s not OK to lose at Kansas.

“(In past years) the whole trip back nobody would say anything to anybody,” he said of attitude after losses. “They (KU players) didn’t like that feeling of losing. It’s what we need to get on this team — that we don’t like the feeling of losing at all.”

He said the freshmen shouldn’t be blamed because they hadn’t been around long. “I have no problem accepting the responsibility,” Hawkins said.

¢ Tough Cal: Cal has won six straight games since a season-opening loss to Eastern Michigan, a game in which standout Leon Powe and center Rod Benson didn’t play because of injury. Self said the Bears were the most talented team KU had played to date, even more talented than Arizona.