'Coach was blasting us:' KU's Graham recalls marathon meeting after home loss to OSU
A players-only team meeting at Henry’s T’s during a turbulent time during the 2007-08 college basketball season has been credited with helping Kansas surge to the national championship.
It was revealed on Saturday that a Feb. 4 marathon session at Allen Fieldhouse — one that involved both KU players and coaches — has helped spark the 2017-18 Jayhawks to a 12-2 record and Elite Eight berth.
Let senior point guard Devonté Graham explain. …
“We had all the coaches in there. Coach (Bill) Self … once he gets talking, he doesn’t stop. We were probably in there an hour and a half, two hours,” Graham said of a meeting called in the wake of the Jayhawks’ 84-79 Feb. 3 home loss to Oklahoma State, a setback that came during the school’s 120 Years of basketball reunion weekend.
“It was just all of us talking — assistant coaches, everybody just saying what we needed to do to be successful, how attitudes needed to be good, everybody’s got to do this and that so we’d be in the position we’re in today.”
KU’s players attended a banquet the night of the OSU loss — a dinner, with speeches, for all the former KU players back in town for the reunion.
“That was one of the most awkward situations I’ve ever been in,” Graham said of the dinner at the Jayhawk Club. “Coach was blasting us in front of everybody and all the former players and stuff like that, so it was definitely awkward.”
Graham visited with several former KU players that evening, including Keith Langford.
“They told us to keep our heads up,” Graham said.
The OSU loss was KU’s third at home this season.
“I remember, (Langford) told me we’re gonna be good. We’re gonna be straight. Everybody is going to pick up. Don’t worry about the Big 12 run at that time. Everything’s going to fall into place,” Graham added, noting things indeed worked out.
Self has acknowledged in the past he was quite upset at the Jayhawks being defeated on reunion weekend.
He was also miffed on March 3, when the Jayhawks lost again to the Cowboys, this time 82-64 at Gallagher-Iba Arena. That was just KU’s second loss since the OSU game in Lawrence. KU also was defeated on Feb. 10 at Baylor.
“My deal was, I didn't care as much that we lost. It bothered me because we didn't compete against somebody that already kicked our butt,” Self said Saturday of the second OSU game. “You never want to lose, but that to me was the thing is that we went down there and our mind wasn't right. As much as we talk about, 'Hey, we won the league. Now we should be more relaxed than ever.' I think they took that as, 'Now we can take the foot off the gas.' It was disappointing for me, but in the big scheme of things, it's probably the least important game that we played all year.”
KU since that loss at OSU has won six straight games, including one over the Cowboys in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.
Sunday’s game against Duke will be KU’s third try in as many years to win an Elite Eight game. KU fell to Oregon last year and Villanova the year before. During Graham’s freshman year, the Jayhawks lost to Wichita State in the second round in Omaha.
“You definitely can feel that,” Graham said of his teammates wanting to win for the seniors. “Guys know that we’ve been in this game the last two years and that we’ve come up short. Even though they might not have been in the two games, they can feel how we feel and that we really want to get over (the Elite Eight obstacle). You can feel them rallying around and they want it to happen.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2018 at 6:53 PM with the headline "'Coach was blasting us:' KU's Graham recalls marathon meeting after home loss to OSU."