After fun yet ‘exhausting’ day, Jayhawks get serious ahead of Monday’s Maui opener
Wearing a red and white Hawaiian shirt emblazoned with a Jayhawks logo, Maui Jim sunglasses and a green lei as a necklace, Bill Self discussed Kansas’ upcoming appearance in the Maui Invitational at a Sunday news conference held just a few feet from the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
Self’s Jayhawks (3-1) arrived in paradise Friday afternoon and were awarded several hours of free time Saturday before getting serious Sunday in advance of Monday’s 8 p.m. quarterfinal game against NCAA Div. II Chaminade (2-0) at the Lahaina Civic Center.
“Yesterday was exhausting,” Self said. “I think that’s the most tired I’ve seen our guys. They got up at 6 or 6:30 because of the time change (four hours behind Central time). Some went snorkeling. Some hung out. We practiced (at local high school), rushed back, ate, went to a luau last night. By 8:30, (we were) just totally wiped out.”
“We met last night,” Self added. “I told them the fun was officially over. The business trip starts tonight.”
Self said redshirts Mitch Lightfoot and Dajuan Harris, plus walk-ons Elijah Elliott, Michael Jankovich and Chris Teahan, could continue to “do whatever you want to do” when the team is not practicing or playing in games, “but you can’t be driving Ochai (Agbaji) out at 6 a.m. to go snorkeling like you did yesterday (Saturday).
“Those guys that are not in the nine (man rotation), I’m not saying some won’t play, but they won’t play near as many minutes. I said, ‘Mitch, make sure you leave everybody else alone.’’’
Self had some fun, too. He hit one of three free throws in a contest (won by UCLA’s Mick Cronin) between the eight head coaches of the teams in Maui. The 17th-year KU coach said he cherished the one-day of fun Saturday. The Jayhawks also will have free time on Thanksgiving Day, once the Monday-Wednesday event has concluded.
KU plays Chaminade at 8 p.m. Central Monday. A win would push KU into the semis against BYU or UCLA at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. The tourney final is schedued for 4 p.m. Wednesday. Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Dayton and Georgia are on the other side of the bracket.
“A week is too long to stay locked in,” Self said. “I didn’t want them to think about basketball (Saturday). I didn’t want them to think about Chaminade. That’s not how our normal routine works. Our normal routine is, ‘Day before the game, this is exactly how we do it.’ I think they’ll handle it fine. It’s a first-time deal for everybody to come over here for this tournament. Nobody has experienced anything like this.”
Including one of Self’s family members.
“I’ve got my granddaughter here — that’s cool,” Self said of 2-year-old Ella Jane Browning. “There’s firsts all around us.”
Self smiled when told that Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird’s two young children, Jane and Brooks, said confidently at Sunday’s coaches’ media availability that the Silverswords would defeat KU Monday.
“You’d hope kids would feel that way. I have a 2-year-old granddaughter that may think we can beat the Celtics or the Lakers, too,” Self said.
Self said Chaminade’s veteran team, which was picked to finish third in the 12-team Pacific West Conference, “can certainly give everybody in this field problems, including us.”
KU has beaten the Silverswords by 48 and 51 points in past Maui tournaments.
Self said Chaminade has “a tremendous passing team, a lot better than teams we played here in the past. They make the extra pass, are unselfish. I think they’ll have one of the better teams he (Bovaird) has had since he’s been here.”
Bovaird, who has coached his team for nine years, would love for Chaminade to improve its 8-92 all-time record in Maui with a one-for-the-ages victory over KU. He realizes it will be a difficult task stopping the No. 4-ranked Jayhawks and 7-footer Udoka Azubuike.
“I’ve been part of the tournament nine years. I’ve seen a lot of high-level basketball players — not all of them in the history of basketball — but from my experience, he is the best I’ve ever seen at getting the ball into the post and finishing before you have time to react,” Bovaird said of Azubuike. “People talk of him not shooting the ball past 5 feet. You don’t have to whenever you can just catch the ball and dunk it. Why would you want to (shoot outside of 5-feet)?”
Chaminade’s coach said his Silverswords are well aware of the implications of Monday’s game. A victory over KU would shock the nation.
“They know it’s a part of history and something we cherish,” Bovaird said of Chaminade’s eight rare upsets in the invitational. “It’s part of the reason they (his players) are here, not just this tournament but to be part of the Chaminade history. They cherish the opportunity to play a team like Kansas.”
Self, meanwhile, said the Jayhawks do not mind playing a Division II school in such a big tourney.
“Coaches (in Division II) like to get the Division I win as much as anything if they win or have the opportunity to get one,” he said. “In our situation, our schedule is plenty tough. I don’t think it’ll help or hurt either way. It’ll crush us if we are not successful.
“We obviously can’t take anything for granted, (but) I don’t think it hurts (KU’s strength of schedule) at all.”
