What did Bill Self say at Big 12 Media Day?

The annual Big 12 Media Day took place Wednesday at Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center, where Kansas basketball coach Bill Self joined players Dajuan Harris, KJ Adams and Hunter Dickinson for a busy afternoon of interviews.

Here’s everything Self said at the event.

SELF ACCOUNT: “Well, first of all, I’m excited to be here and I’m excited about the season. It’s going to be another big year for our league, obviously, and the expectations are high. I think the expectations might be a little underestimated, because I think there are there are actually more great teams in our league than people are talking about. I’m excited about my group how that translates into winning games when you play the schedule you’re playing, I don’t know exactly, but if things. could work out and have some luck, obviously, like everyone else from a health standpoint, if the pieces fell into place like I think they could, then I think potentially this could be one of our best teams.”

Q: There’s been a lot of talk about the Big 12, SEC, which is the best conference in America. How difficult will it be to win this league this year, especially with all the teams that entered?

Self: “Well, you know, you have five preseason top 10s, which I was told previously that has never happened before in a league. So you have – you’re going to have three or four other top 25 type teams that are or not there now, they’ll be there at some point during the year. I’ve said this many times, and we’ve had some success in the league, this year in particular, I feel like it would probably be the hardest year to win out of all the years we’ve had. .

I can say for sure that this will be the hardest year to win in our league, in large part because of the unbalanced schedule as well, depending on who you play at home and who you play on the road and who you play twice and everything. these things. But it will be a big league. I don’t think you look at it the way we used to, which is a win-the-league-at-all-costs deal. I think you look at it more like if we can compete and be at the top of this league, we have a chance. Even if disappointment comes when you don’t win, you better be prepared to be a little disappointed, because no one is going to run the table.”

Q. There were a few coaches, Tony Bennett decided he didn’t want to coach today’s game anymore; we’ve seen some football coaches who are fed up with it. What’s the state of college athletics like for you right now, and is that something that you’ve been able to adapt and overcome with all the changes and work through it?

Self: “Well, I don’t disagree with what someone did and their reasons for doing it. I would say I don’t feel exactly the same way they do right now. world we live in right now from a college athletics standpoint, but I think it’s going to balance out, I think – I don’t know exactly what the formula is, but I think we’re going to look at our sport. and college athletics in a few years, and it will be different than it is now.

I don’t know what business anyone has been in where there haven’t been significant changes over time if you’ve been in business for three or four decades. We’re going through one of those changes right now, and people probably aren’t as comfortable with the change as I am either, but I think we’ll get through this and everything will even out and we’ll be in a place where we feel so much more comfortable. comfortable in a short space of time.”

Q. If someone told you a few years ago that Texas and OU would be out of your conference and that the conference would add eight new schools, from Phoenix to Orlando, what would you tell them? Would you have predicted this a few years ago or was this completely unexpected?

Self: “Well, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you this: It’s been 12 years when we were worried about whether we’d be in a league. So I actually feel better about where we are now, because I think the Big 12 is solid, more than than ever, so I feel great about that, and even though losing two brands like OU and Texas is obviously a success, but what did we replace with I. I think, especially from a basketball standpoint, I don’t think we’re going to take a step back in any way, shape, or form. Now, we may have taken a step back, but not back, I feel very positive about where we are.”

Q: You bring in a very impressive transfer class this year with six players. Can you talk about what you’ve seen so far in the first few practices and what you expect this year from all six of you?

Self: “Well, we brought in five on scholarship. We brought in a sixth who is a walk-on. I like them. I think they all have a chance to contribute, and you could argue that all of them have been one of our best players on any given day. so far, whether it’s David Coit or AJ or Rylan or Shakeel I think the question is going to come from a different place – that’s how it is with every coach and every program they fit in with their current players and how they fit in playing that way. different from the way they played in their different locations.

I don’t think we’re very comfortable yet. I think we have more talent. I think we are more athletic. I think we shot it a little better. I think all those things. But do they fit exactly with how we win over time? I guess that remains to be seen. You’ll know a lot more when we get punched in the stomach or face for the first time and see how we react. But from 10,000 feet or so, I like them all, and I think that makes for a pretty deep lineup.”

Q: You mentioned an unprecedented five teams in the preseason top 10 of the AP poll. Other coaches have mentioned that this makes the league difficult, but equally something that makes it difficult is that there are no teams ranked outside of the top 90.

Self: “That’s what makes the league difficult. I don’t want to interrupt you, but a lot of leagues are top-heavy, but they’re also base-heavy. This league has no bottom. It doesn’t matter where you go, winning on the road or not winning on the road it won’t be considered a surprise to the coaches. Having a record – what we’re playing, 18 this year. So having a 20-game record in the league, man, someone would go 15-5, I think. , wow, they had an amazing year; whereas in the past you might have a team going 16-2, something like that I don’t see that happening much more often for teams in our league that aren’t really off days;

Q: What I hear from other coaches is that even when you play the last-place team in this conference, it’s probably still a top-100 team and it’s probably still a near-full arena.

Self: “That’s true, and it’s a great league for all sports. But in basketball, we’re very proud of our league and the fans are very proud. All road games are big wins. Maybe there’s some scheduling favor for some teams just because it’s an unbalanced schedule. It was like that in the Big Ten. It was like that in the Big 12, when we played South once and North twice that year and that kind of thing, but I don’t think you think like that. form in this league.

Someone asked me earlier what the biggest league game on their schedule would be, and I really thought about it and said, probably the next game. I know this is coach speak, but it’s true. If you are not ready, you will be defeated. Outsiders might look on or our fan bases might find it boring. Hey, any away win in our league will be considered, I think, as at worst a Quad 2 win. At worst. That’s why you have so many opportunities to make the NCAA tournament outside of our league, because you have the opportunity to play 15, 18 Quad 1 games and the rest of them are Quad 2 games, which is what makes the league difficult. .