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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 10, 2016Bill SelfCarlton Bragg, Jr.Frank Mason, IIIKansas City, Missouri Kansas-85, Kansas State-63 THE MODERATOR: Kansas Jayhawks, Coach Bill Self and two athletes, Carlton Bragg, Jr. and Frank Mason. COACH SELF: I thought we looked pretty sharp offensively. I thought we did a lot of good things early. We moved the ball and, of course, made some shots which makes everything look better. And actually continued the ball movement for the most part, most of the night, except when they went zone. And then, you know, we did a better job on the glass in the second half. We weren't great on the glass in the first half. But it was a good first day and I'm happy with our team. THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you. Let's go to questions now for Frank and Carlton. Q. Carlton, you finally got to celebrate some of your own threes today. Was it nice to be able to do that rather than celebrating for your teammates? CARLTON BRAGG: Yeah, I enjoyed it, just coming in and playing, you know. COACH SELF: This is Carlton's first time in the interview room, and he may be a little nervous. And I told him most guys that come in here get more than zero rebounds, but(laughter). Q. Frank, there was a point in the first half, it was a three-minute run, when you and Devonte had a 10-4 run for yourselves. When you two are going like that, how high is the ceiling for this team? FRANK MASON: It's very high for us. Coach tells us all the time he wants us to stay aggressive and get in the paint so we can create easy shots for our teammates and for ourselves, and that's what we did. Q. For Carlton and Frank, mostly Frank, but you have Baylor next. Did you see the scouting report and what you remember about the two games you had against them? FRANK MASON: They have a lot of length on the wings and have some great athletes, good coaching staff, and they play a good 2-3 zone, extended 2-3 zone. And it was great to get a chance to play against that a little bit today so we can have a little bit of advantage for tomorrow, you know. Not just playing against man the whole night, and we were happy with that. CARLTON BRAGG: Going along with what Frank said, they are very athletic and their zone's pretty good. And we got a chance to go against that today and get us prepared for tomorrow. Q. Frank, in what ways will playing the tough competition that you played in the Big 12 conference throughout the year help you like next week and beyond? FRANK MASON: You know, every team is good in the NCAA tournament. So, you know, just playing the tough schedule we played throughout the Big 12 prepared us for that point. Q. Carlton, the Big 12 tournament is known for a time when younger guys get a chance to play more minutes and produce. Did you feel you took advantage of that opportunity? CARLTON BRAGG: Yes, I was ready when my number was called. Just playing hard and playing my role. THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on your victory and look forward to tomorrow, good luck. Let's go to questions for Coach Self. Q. Just looking at Devonte and Frank, I just wonder to what degree you think that set the foundation for you to be able to have two point guards out there? And you, I guess, had a little bit of a history with that, leading some of your best tournament success? COACH SELF: You know, we've had -- you know, Tulsa we played two points and Illinois we played two points. When we went to the Finals in '12, we played two points. It's something we got away from the last two years in large part because you've got (indiscernible) and Wiggins. Talented, ball probably didn't move and probably didn't create easy opportunities for other guys near as much. So moving forward, recruiting-wise, we want to play two point guards. I'd play three if we could, as long as one of them was big enough to defend a three. But we have good balance and I like our guys a lot. But the reality is, when Devonte and Frank play well, they drive us more than anybody else. Q. Coach, Baylor, you've beaten them seven straight games, but you have lost to them two of the last three tournament games. So what's the difference there? COACH SELF: Well, they played better than us on those particular days. I don't know that there is a big difference. We played them last year in the tournament in a really low-scoring game, if I am not mistaken, and eked out a win. But we played them this year the first time and we were as good as we've been all year, and the second time, it was basically a one-possession game and we made some good plays late that allowed us to win that game. But I like their team a lot. I think they're really good. I love their personnel. Not many guys can throw a Motley and Gathers and Maston, three big guys at you. And with Wainright playing the way he's playing, they may have as versatile guys as there is in the league with Prince. And they're good. Their zone has always given us problems. It gives everybody problems at times and certainly we didn't attack it very well the last time. So with the short turn-around, I hope that we're prepared to do a much better job against them. Q. Coach, Carlton was fighting through foul trouble today. If that wasn't the case, what do you think his minutes would have looked like? And for Cheick was he a little banged up? COACH SELF: Cheick got hit in the mouth, he's got a mouth full of stitches. And you can see, visibly see it. But I thought if we played Cheick today and he got hit, he may be done for the weekend and certainly done tomorrow. So the game was going fine, so we decided to not do that. And the first question about Carlton, he did get in foul trouble and I would have loved for that not to have happened so he could play 20 minutes or whatever, because he shot the ball well in practice as of late. He had a day in practice not too long ago where he shot it like that and it kind of gave him some confidence. He's been kind of the odd-man-out, unfortunately, because he is not really a true center, and Jamari has been good for us and, of course, Perry has got to play a ton of minutes. But he responded today and you guys can see he is a talented kid, very skilled. Q. Coach, is there anything you can take away from the first two match-ups against Baylor going into a game trying to beat a team for the third time? COACH SELF: Well, you know, the first time we were really good on the glass and that was, you know, a huge part of playing that. The second time we were awful. I think we gotup like, I could be off, 6-0 rebounding and then you look up and it's 27-15 or 26-15 them. That means they went on like a 26-9 run against us rebounding the ball, and that's been our achilles heel as of late. We haven't rebounded it. Perry's got to rebound it better and our guards have to clean up. You look at K-State today, the way Edwards kicked our butt on the glass. That, to me, is as big a key as anything else, just our ability to rebound the ball and not allow them extra possessions. Q. Coach, Devonte, Perry and Frank were all in with about 3:00 left and up 20. Can you just discuss the risk-reward of wanting to make sure that guys stay on track for the tournament but the risk -- COACH SELF: It's not a risk. Jamari was tired and we weren't going to play Cheick and no reason to but a stiff Landen back in. We were just trying to buy a couple of minutes. Frank and Devonte' can play all day long, so... Q. Bill, you've always been real frank about how good you think your teams are. I know the last time I saw you, it's been three weeks ago, you were winning, but I don't think you were feeling it was a great, great team. Have you changed a little bit? You hadn't lost since then. COACH SELF: Well, I think that we've -- I think when we play well, we look really good. I think that the problem with us is we can go from -- and I even had officials say this to us, to me. They say, hey, we call all over the country and when you're on, you're as good as anybody, but when you are off, there's a big fall. I think inconsistency is something that we haven't been very good at, at least within the same game, or maybe within the same half. So I do like our team a lot. I think that when we're good, we can certainly look really, really good. But the thing that bothers me, there's still some things that hurts us and can expose us that you can't pencil in that we will be a great rebounding team or we can really guard the ball. There are some things that teams have taken advantage of against us, and sometimes you just kind of hope that those things don't happen, as opposed to knowing going in that there's no way that can happen. Q. Coach, on another development in the last 24 hours, Clyde Lovellette. You've seen a lot of great scorers, but nobody since him has been a leading scorer and been an NCAA champion. Does that amaze you in some ways? COACH SELF: You said country's leading scorer, yeah. I had the opportunity to speak with Clyde, I believe it was Friday, he and his daughter. You know, of course, I didn't see him play and all these things. But, you know, at one time you can review it as the two best big men in the world. And certainly it's a loss. But when you really break it down, you think about, you know, Olympic champion, national champion, leading scorer in the country, a great pro, and probably did as much as a pioneer in the game to create interest and things like that as just about anybody else did. So it's certainly a loss, but I hope all Kansas fans look back and appreciate the significance in what he's done for not only himself, his family, but also for our school. THE MODERATOR: All right, Coach, thank you. And we'll see you tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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