Tuesday, February 19, 2008
No team is ready for a national title yet — not Memphis, North Carolina, Duke, UCLA, Tennessee or Kansas.
That’s the way Bill Self sees it.
Freshman center Cole Aldrich grabs a defensive rebound over a Colorado player during the second half of Saturday's game.
“If any team in America has reached its height, it’s downhill for any team,” Self said. “There’s no team out there, in my opinion, who if they don’t get better could win it all. Everybody’s got to get better.”
And finally, Self’s team will have the opportunity to do that. Kansas is in the middle of a six-day break from games — it plays at Oklahoma State on Saturday — and Self intends to use the free time to practice and rest, with the goal of getting better for the stretch run in mind.
“It’s hard to get better if you can’t practice,” Self said. “I’m not a believer that we’ll play in a game and we’ll automatically get better. You have to work on the things you want to improve on.”
A prolonged opportunity for practice hasn’t been available in the last month.
Saturday, Monday. Saturday, Monday.
The game schedule went on like the steps to a never-ending march. At one point, the Jayhawks played three games in five days. Non-stop action can lead to fatigue, low energy levels or even illnesses. Self said Kansas had even more reason to wear down in January. It was playing with an undefeated record at the time, something that he said caused the team to deflate.
Despite these problems, the Jayhawks are reaping the benefits now. They’re 24-2 and in first place in the Big 12. They have the perfect time to get a break from games and improve for the end of conference play and the start of the postseason.
“My goal has always been for our team to start getting better in February,” Self said, “and hopefully peaking in late February and early March.”
The plan for preparing for that stretch includes two days off from practice this week and plenty of work on defensive rebounding when the team does practice.
Rebounding was Kansas’ biggest weakness in its loss to Texas last week. Afterwards, Self complained about a lack of toughness from his players. Senior guard Russell Robinson saw that his team didn’t adjust well enough to the Longhorns’ intensity.
“It’s about being able to adapt to tough environments,” Robinson said, “and being able to turn it around better than we have the last couple of games.”
Toughness isn’t just something for the players to naturally improve on. Self thinks coaches must develop the attitude. He’ll likely spend plenty of time this week teaching his team to be tougher, mentally and physically.
He wants the players to not get pushed around when they dive for loose balls, run into ball screens or get blocked out for rebounds. He wants them to get quality shots during important possessions.
“Those are all toughness things,” Self said. “You have to try to coach it because if you don’t have it, you’re not going to go anywhere. And some people have it, but I’ve never coached a guy who couldn’t get tougher. Even the toughest guys can get tougher.”
pullquote
“My goal has always been for our team to start getting better in February.”
—Bill Self, men's basketball coach
Senior center Sasha Kaun thinks he needs to get tougher, along with the rest of the team. This is the week to do it. The Jayhawks have all the time they need to prepare for the rest of the year and, maybe, improve enough for a deep run in the postseason.
“It’s kind of a mental thing,” Kaun said about getting better this week. “This is something that can turn around because when it comes down to postseason and NCAA tournaments, we have to want that and keep our right mindset.”
— Edited by Mandy Earles
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