wednesday,may5,2004
sports
the university daily kansan 3B
SELF: Expectations for next year still high, but fairer
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
nre, and I think we were really on our way to doing that. Then, of course, Jeff was disciplined again and J.R. was also hurt that game. I think he only played 10 minutes. Greene: Do you think that game would have been different had Jeff played?
Self. I think that if a coach says a game would have been different, then they're not giving respect to the team that beat your butt. But there's no guarantees. I think with a better frame of mind, we would have had a better chance to win that game.
Greene: What did you consider to be the season's highest point?
Self: Probably two games.
When we beat Pacific to go to the Sweet 16 or winning at Missouri.
Greene: When the season came to a close, how many guys did you realistically think were considering transferring? With David and Omar, did you ever get the feeling during the season that maybe they were unhappy?
Self. Certainly Moulaye and Omar came as no surprise. We anticipated that for a lot of reasons. The only one that came as a surprise, obviously, was David. The other ones were expected just because of what was important to them and their roles here with this team. Personally, I don't want to talk about David. I think it's not fair to him or to me to rehash things. But what transpired at the end based on what we had visited about came as a surprise. Certainly, I wouldn't say it was a complete shock, but it was a surprise.
Greene: Just one other question about him. There was a lot of speculation that criticism from fans played a role in his decision. What's your take?
Self: When you talk about criticism, fans should never criticize players. Ever. If they give bad effort, of course we understand. We have never been in a situation where I felt unrest with our fans at home. Certainly we played where there was unrest on the road, but I have never felt any negativity from our fans towards our players. For all we know, those could be Missouri fans calling into the
newspaper. It is disappointing if any fan would criticize a guy out there trying. I know me personally, I'm really proud of our fans. I'd much prefer they criticize coaching instead of the players, because they are just young people trying to make it. But I don't think that would have any impact.
Greene: With that gap now in the lineup, how ready are Sasha Kaun and Darnell Jackson going to be to contribute as freshman?
Self. I have no idea, but I expect those guys to contribute. We're not taking a step backwards, I'll tell you that. The thing is, instead of worrying about what you don't have, relish in the fact that you have Simien, Langford, Miles, Giddens and Lee. Those are the guys you're thankful that you have. With our new recruiting and an additional recruit or two, I can't believe that this team next year won't be a little more versatile than this year's team.
Greene: Did J.R. ever entertain thoughts of putting his name in the NBA Draft?
Self. To my knowledge, no. A lot of guys have made some very wise decisions to come back, and I'd say J.R. definitely fits that category.
Greene: A lot of people say he'll be one of the most watched sophomores by scouts next year. Do you think he'll be able to shoulder that?
Self: The great thing about J.R. is that he has Keith, Aaron and Wayne. He has the upperclassmen to lean on. I think that'll be very, very positive for him.
Greene: Speaking of Aaron, with the way he carried the team in the tournament — especially with the health of your team — where does he compare with some of the great point guards you've coached like Frank Williams and Dee Brown?
will really need to watch out for?
Self: Aaron is the best open-court point guard I've ever had. Frank was a scorer first, passer second. Aaron's a true point guard. He thinks of others scoring before himself. He's the purest point guard I've had.
Greene: Who's the one returning reserve you think next year people
Self. I'd say there's two. I would say Jeremy Case and I would say Michael Lee. As good as Michael was as a sophomore and this year, working around his injury, I think there's a full season Mike's going to put together that he hasn't had the chance to yet. I think with Jeremy it's strength and confidence. I really think he's going to be a good player.
Greene: Roy called him the best pure shooter he ever recruited. Do you see that potential?
Self: Yeah, I do see potential like that. I see him being a Terry Brown-type of guy. When he's playing well and confident and gets a little bigger, I can see him being a Boschee-type guy, but not playing the number of minutes Boschee played.
Greene: With Norm Roberts going to St. John's, how does that change your recruiting?
Self: It doesn't. We'll adjust roles, but Norm going to St. John's was the best thing that's happened this offseason in my eyes. He deserves it and certainly he'll be missed. The thing about it is that we've now had six coaches in seven years get jobs, so it always puts your program in a little bit of a quandry for a month or two or whatever, but it always seems to work itself out. I think you want guys to work for you who have aspirations of being a head coach.
Greene: Everyone knows there's the focus on Malik Hairston, C.J. Giles and Alex Galindo for next year, but do you have any junior college guys on your radar?
Self: You know Giles I can't comment on. He hasn't been released yet. Everybody's speculating, but nobody's ever heard us commenting on Giles. I get such a kick out of these guys saying this crap. Well who do you get this from? "Oh wewink. We're speculating." That's bullshit. You shouldn't be speculating.
We did have some JUCO guys on the radar screen up to about a month ago, but at that time we thought we'd be returning a different team.
Greene : Looking two years from now, with Wayne, Keith and Aaron gone, is there a lot of pressure for a big recruiting class next year?
Self: I think that finishing this year strong and having a stellar recruiting class next year is the key in not taking any steps backwards. I think in recruiting, the never-ending deal, you could never ever take years off, so I think it's important that we have strong back-to-back classes. We need to be in a position where we have eight or nine freshmen and sophomores that are major contributors following next year. We are in a position to do that if things fall right.
Greene: You've dealt with heavy preseason expectations before multiple times. What are you going to take from those experiences towards next season?
Self: I think expectations last year were more off the charts than they will be next year. Not very often do you lose two lottery picks and then people project you to be contenders. Not that we should ever back away from that, that wasn't very fair. There's no question that early in the season we were good, and through December to February 15, we were just average — we were a top-25 team. After that, we played to what people in the preseason expected. You finish ranked ninth in America, you go to the Elite Eight and you finish second in the league, and if you told us that at the start of the season knowing what we knew as a staff with our health, these guys would play their butts off. We did play to our expectations. Next year, expectations will still be high, but they'll be more fair.
Self. It was difficult, it always is. We thought that playing Oklahoma State again — naturally they kicked our butts the first time — we were totally different. We knew them, and we thought we could have had an edge from a mental standpoint in that game. That was difficult.
Greene: How hard was it to be there watching the Final Four?
Edited by Robert Perkins
Serves up
Brent Carter/Kansan
Shaina Meyers, Omaha, Neb., freshman, returned her opponent's serve yesterday on a racquetball court in the Robinson Center. Meyers was honing her skills during her racquetball class. "I took the class to learn how to play the game since I didn't know how," Meyers said.
Basketball star may choose Cowboys
The Associated Press
"They really want him, and they did a good job coming in and recruiting him," Curry's high school coach, John Moon, told the Tulsa World.
JamesOn Curry, who visited campus last weekend, could sign as early as Tuesday, according to reports.
STILLWATER, Okla. — The leading scorer in North Carolina high school basketball history appears ready to sign with Oklahoma State after the Tar Heels rescinded his scholarship because of a drug conviction.
Curry, a 6-foot-3 guard,
pleaded guilty April 5 to six felony counts; two each of possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana; two each of the sale of marijuana and two each of delivering marijuana.
North Carolina coach Roy Williams pulled his scholarship offer two days later. He was kicked off his high school team after his February arrest.
Curry, 18, was sentenced to 36 months of probation; various fines, including $600 for lab fees to test the marijuana; $200 in court costs and 200 hours of community service.
Moon said he believes Curry's legal troubles were a one-time mistake.
Curry scored 3,307 points at Eastern Alamance High School,
averaged 40.3 points per game
and scored 40 points or more 24
times. He holds 14 North Carolina high school records.
Curry would join Julius Lamptey and Aaron Pettway in the Cowboys' recruiting class.