Self undecided on Big 12 player of year: ‘I don’t think anybody has separated themselves’
Just like the actual Big 12 race, the conference’s men’s basketball player of the year competition figures to be decided the last game or two of the season.
“I don’t think anybody has separated themselves,” Kansas coach Bill Self said Thursday at his weekly news conference at Allen Fieldhouse. “Last year, Trae (Young, Oklahoma) and Devonté (Graham, KU) separated themselves from everybody else. You’ve got two first-team All-Americans. It was Trae and Devonté hands down and then everybody else.
“This year we’re not going to have that in our league. We’re not going to have multiple first-team All-Americans. This year the best player on the best team should probably win is how I feel about it.”
A year ago, Graham edged Young for league player of the year honors. KU’s Frank Mason won the award in 2016-17 and Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield the two seasons before that.
“Barry Brown … if K-State wins league he should be player of the year,” Self said. “If we win, Dedric (Lawson, league’s leading scorer and rebounder) should be player of the year. If Iowa State wins … (Marial) Shayok. If Tech wins, (Jarrett) Culver.”
Self noted that Baylor also is a team that can definitely win the league, but didn’t mention any individual from that squad Thursday. Makai Mason leads the Bears in scoring at 14.6 points per game, which ranks ninth in the league.
“If it’s a tie? I’d sell out it being a four-way tie and give it to all four,” Self said. “Then it would probably come down to stats. To me if there is an outright winner, that guy deserves it.”
Self was asked if he’d miss competing against some of the above mentioned players next season.
“No, not at all,” he said with a smile. “I think there are certain guys who play for other teams, you enjoy the competitiveness. I remember going against (Iowa State’s) Georges Niang and Monte Morris. We loved playing against them and they loved playing against us (and sometimes chatted with Self during games).
“They would always talk smack and all that stuff. There’s not many guys in the league I do that with personally. When Blake (Griffin) and Kevin (Durant) and Michael (Beasley) all left … as a competitor you miss going against those guys each and every year even though the reality of it is the reason why we miss the competitiveness is because they were the best our sport had to offer in those particular years.
“I don’t think I’m going to miss Dean (Wade) and Barry (Brown) and (Kamau) Stokes that much. They’ve been really good players for K-State. They’ve represented their school in a tremendous way, all those things. I don’t think anybody in our league missed Perry (Ellis) when Perry left. They were probably glad It was probably his time to go even though he was here like 17 years.”
Garrett ’85, 90 percent’
Self said KU sophomore guard Marcus Garrett, who has played in the last two games after missing five because of a high ankle sprain, is not yet 100 percent.
“He may be 85, 90 percent. He still can’t jump off his left leg. He is a left-leg jumper. He plays everything off his left leg for the most part,” Self said. “His injury … he may not be 100 percent before the season is over He is out there trying.”
Garrett scored nine points in 22 minutes on Feb. 23 at Texas Tech and scored six points in 27 minutes Monday against K-State.
“He is one of the toughest kids we have. Everyone would agree to that within our program,” Self said. “He tried to come back faster than what he did. He just couldn’t do it. Certainly I’m not saying we couldn’t have won the game without him Monday (home win over K-State). It’d have been very difficult to win without him. Just his presence in 22 minutes or 27 minutes, whatever it was he gave us certainly enhanced our positioning.”
Self said he’s not monitoring Garrett’s minutes.
“If anything, maybe for conditioning,” Self said. “But there’s no monitoring at all. He is sore after everything (practice, games) but I think it’s getting a little better as time passes.”
Garrett said he was “basically trying to get my explosiveness back. I feel it’s healing now. I’m basically trying to get it back to normal — mostly agility, being able to change directions, running full speed and stopping.”
No news on Vick
There’s nothing new to report on senior guard Lagerald Vick, who has been in his hometown of Memphis on an indefinite leave of absence since Feb. 7. Vick averaged 14.1 points and 4.0 rebounds a game, hitting a team-leading 66 threes in 145 tries for 45.5 percent.
“No, no. There’s been no change. No change,” Self said Thursday.
Self had told The Star’s Sam Mellinger last week: “Whenever he gets his stuff handled we’ll welcome him back.”
On Feb. 7, Self announced: “Lagerald has some personal matters that require his immediate attention and he will be taking a leave of absence from our team. During this time, we will respect Lagerald’s privacy. There is no timetable for his return.”
All-academic team
KU junior Udoka Azubuike and sophomore Charlie Moore have been chosen to the academic all-Big 12 first team, announced by the league office Thursday. This is the second-straight season Azubuike has earned the honor. In all, 34 players were chosen to the 2019 team, with Azubuike and Moore being two of the 20 first-team honorees.
