What will it take to win Big 12? Self: ‘I’ll say the same thing I say every year’
Kansas has won the Big 12 Conference regular-season men’s basketball title with as many as five losses (2017-18, 2014-15) and as few as one (2009-10) over the past 14 campaigns.
So what will it take for KU to win No. 15 in a row or any of the other nine schools to earn a first-place ring in 2018-19?
“I don’t know,” KU coach Bill Self said Monday at his weekly news conference, quickly adding, “I’ll say the same thing I say every year: 14-4 will get it outright; 13-5 will tie it. I think that’s what I always say. You can take that and go to the bank with it.
“I don’t see any team having a record that would be a lot better than that. I think there’s too many hard games to play, too many good teams.”
The No. 5-ranked Jayhawks (11-1), winners of an NCAA-record 14 straight league crowns (one more than UCLA from 1967-79 in Pac-10), open conference play against No. 23 Oklahoma (11-1) at 8 p.m., Wednesday, at Allen Fieldhouse.
KU’s one-loss season came when the conference squads played just 16 league games. Since going to 18 games in 2011-12, KU’s best marks came in 2011-12 and 2016-17 when the Jayhawks went 16-2.
Now that KU’s nonconference season is on hold until a Jan. 26 game at Kentucky, Self said he planned on speaking to the squad some about the upcoming league race prior to tipoff on Wednesday.
“We haven’t really talked about the conference season except a little bit after Christmas, before we played Eastern Michigan and a little bit after the game and I didn’t see them yesterday,” Self said.
The Jayhawks downed Eastern Michigan, 87-63, Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. The team had a day off on Sunday and returned to practice Monday.
“I don’t know if you talk about the league race getting off to a fast start. You just talk about playing well early,” added Self, whose Jayhawks follow the OU game with Game No. 2 Saturday at Iowa State. “It’s such a long grind — 18 games is a long time. You don’t want to put too much emphasis on one game but in the big picture it certainly behooves you to get off to a good start.”
Self said to win league, a team “has to be consistently good over a span of two and a half months, which isn’t easy to do. You need to be even keel. There will be peaks and valleys but they don’t need to be spikes. They don’t need to be like the December market.
“It needs to be something that you kind of grind through it but you can’t pass up opportunities to take advantage of good nights, good situations,” he added. “I just looked at the OU game from last year when we played in Norman (85-80 loss). We played great, had a 9-point lead in the second half. You have to win that game and we didn’t. Those are the types of things, you have to take advantage of winning those close games when you get an opportunity to because there will be a lot of them.”
The players certainly take the league race seriously.
Senior Lagerald Vick — he has three Big 12 title rings — addressed the team in the locker room after Saturday’s victory once the coaches left the area.
“He talked to us a little. He said how tough the road games are (in Big 12),” sophomore guard Charlie Moore said Monday of Vick’s postgame speech. “We have to go in and execute our plays, give 110 percent effort on the defensive end and execute on offense. It’s big and small things, details when you play on the road to try to get the win. Those are some of the things he talked about,” Moore added.
Self said the veterans figure to speak to freshmen Devon Dotson, Quentin Grimes and David McCormack about the rigors of league.
“Lagerald, Mitch (Lightfoot), Doke (Udoka Azubuike) and I guess Marcus (Garrett) a little bit are the only guys we have that have participated in something like we are about to go through. I think they will do a good job helping,” Self said. “Charlie (Moore), K.J. (Lawson) and Dedric (Lawson) have seen it first-hand (as red-shirts a year ago) but they didn’t experience it.
“I think we’ll be at least understanding on what it takes to win. That doesn’t mean you are going to play well. There are certain possessions that are far more valuable than others. There’s also a different intensity level that you have to be prepared for and it is much harder to win away from home in conference play than in nonconference because the conference games mean more.”
Azubuike update
Junior center Azubuike, who had missed four straight games because of a sprained right ankle, scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds in his return against Eastern Michigan.
“I’ve not talked to him since Saturday. I went recruiting Saturday night (to see Minnesota prep forward Matthew Hurt play in a game),” Self said. “I’m not going to approach it like there’s anything wrong at all. He played and looked like he was close to 100 percent. This is 48 hours later so why wouldn’t he be even better?
“I thought he did well (vs. Eastern Michigan),” Self said. “He made a lot of baskets in tight but that’s what he does. I didn’t think he jumped like he is capable of. He mis-timed a couple of dunks that he’d normally make. I thought he did terrific. I thought he moved his feet well. The biggest concern with him is conditioning.”
Dotson newcomer of week
KU’s Dotson was named Big 12 newcomer of the week Monday. He had 15 points, four assists and three steals against Eastern Michigan. He leads Kansas with 37 assists and his 18 steals are tied for first on the team with Garrett and Vick. Baylor’s Tristan Clark was named player of the week after scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in an 84-44 win over New Orleans.
