Bill Self Last Quotations

Personally I think it was a heck of a college basketball game. The crowd was great. Both teams competed their tails off. Plays at the end of regulation and overtime ... it was just unfortunate for us they made the last play.

Of course it is a big deal. But they don't need to go in thinking, 'Hey, this is our chance. This is a big, bright stage,' or anything like that. They just need to go in thinking about the same things they've been thinking about for the last couple of months.

Last year, there were the seniors and then there was the rest of the team. This year, because we're so young and everybody's kind of an unproven commodity, everybody's about the same. I do think this is a closer-knit group maybe than we had last year.

Last year was probably as tight as I've had a team going into a tournament.

From a coach's perspective, if I watched Jim Wooldridge's team or Rick Barnes' team, it makes a difference. Your job is based on how you do with the potential that you have. That's why I think Jim is a great coach. I think Kansas State is one of the best four teams in our league in the last half of the Big 12 season.

I don't think we played with the same energy we did last night. But we made shots. ... Yesterday we made three shots outside of 6 feet for the game. Three. Today, if we did not make shots, it would have really been an ugly offensive game.

I don't think we played with the same energy we did last night. We did what we needed to do but certainly we can improve in a lot of areas.

I always have had the approach to try to be loose. Last year was probably as tight as we've been going into a tournament and I think a lot of it was we weren't playing well.

He showed a play they ran to win a game in the last second with Danny (Manning). We talked about multiple things. He always asks about how everybody is doing here (at KU). He loved coaching here.

What Micah and I visited about should stay between Micah and myself. What he said was consistent with his statements last week (about personal reasons to play closer to home).

We talked about this last night: How can you not respect somebody whose body feels worse than everybody else's in the gym every single day, and he practices harder than everybody else every single day?

Last week Keith complained of soreness is his knee. He had an MRI on Monday, which revealed some very slight cartilage damage. Keith, his mother and the medical staff then got together and decided to repair it now instead of having it be a nuisance throughout the season.

I think every team goes through phases where they don't play quite as well, especially away from home. They probably haven't played as well in the last two games as they had been, but we've had numerous games like this as well. I don't know if the recent performances by either team will have much bearing on the game Saturday.

It gives everybody the impression that we didn't do that well. ... We had a good year last year. I don't think we should apologize for winning the league or finishing second the year before and going to the Elite Eight.

We are aware that last night at Abe and Jake's more than one fight broke out inside. All reports we have received are that a fight broke out on a crowded set of stairs that Rodrick Stewart was using to exit the premises. Rodrick was hit over the head with some form of blunt instrument while he was exiting. All reports we have received indicate Rodrick had no involvement in the altercation other than him being hit over the head while going up the stairs. He received four staples to the top of his head and is feeling fine today. Rodrick's being at Abe and Jake's did not violate team policies.

We played well last week. We've played really well the past five games.

The other thing our offense wasn't very good last night at all. If the offense isn't very good, I think you are better off playing your best defensive team the majority of time. That also could factor into the equation why those guys didn't get in the second half.

Brandon had used a lot of energy. The last five or six minutes I asked him could he do it? He said yes. That may have been as big a difference in the game. He (Everett) didn't score again after that. He didn't get a decent look after that.

Your job is based on how you do with the potential that you have. That's why I think Jim is a great coach. I think that Kansas State is one of the best four teams in our league in the last half of the Big 12 season. They have lost a lot of tough games.