NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP - FINAL FOUR: VILLANOVA VS KANSAS

March 31, 2022

Bill Self

Caesars Superdome

Kansas Jayhawks

Semi-Finals Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined right now by Kansas head coach Bill Self. Coach, if you want to open things up with a statement.

BILL SELF: We're obviously very excited to be in New Orleans. We were actually here ten years ago and had a great time. I'm proud to have my team here representing our university.

Q. Coach, there's been a lot of talk about the guard posting up matchup in this thing. I wonder how important you see that. Also, you mentioned yesterday no one's talking about Kansas-Nova. I asked Jay earlier if he agrees it's kind of the undercard. He laughed and said he hasn't had time to think about that. I wonder how much you're addressing that or playing that up at all.

BILL SELF: I don't think the undercard here will get more attention than anything we've ever had before. So I don't look at it that way at all. I do look at it as the majority of the attention, and probably rightfully so, will be on the second game because it's through Carolina and they never met, Coach K's last year and all those things.

We're fired up. I don't think anybody in this field is flying under any radar or anything like that. Everybody has the same goals. Actually, I believe all four teams have a legitimate shot if they play well.

Q. We have statistics that show that as far as spending goes, the men's basketball program at KU has nearly doubled what the women's basketball program has spent, and that goes in three categories, one is travel, the other is equipment, and the other is recruiting. I'm just curious to see what your thoughts are on spending equality within your own university and also men's and women's basketball as a whole.

BILL SELF: You're throwing that at me, and I have absolutely no idea what anybody else does. I mean, I know what our program does and those sorts of things, and we do everything first class. It's my understanding, based on what I've been told, that the women are doing everything first class and the same things that we do.

I don't know about all the different things that go within a budget or how money is spent, but I do know that our university takes very serious, and our athletic department takes very serious treating all sports the best they possibly can financially.

Q. 2016 feels like a long time ago, but how have you seen Mitch develop in the past six years to be the leader that he is and in a unique situation where he's still playing college basketball six years later?

BILL SELF: I don't know if Mitch would love playing basketball a seventh or eighth year, but he would love playing it at Kansas. He just loves the school so much. He's so popular on campus. I don't know that we've had many, if any, that would feel the same way about his school that he does. So it's been a treat to watch him grow up.

You think about how the senior year was taken away from so many last year in so many ways, and then you have the NCAA giving these kids an opportunity to get an additional year and to think that he has an opportunity to go out this way as opposed to the way it could have been, I think, is very rewarding for him, and I know there's a lot of other student-athletes out there that get the same opportunity.

Q. Long tradition is such a part of all the teams here. When you start coaching at a place like that and even now, how much do you feel the responsibility of carrying on? And how much do the players feel that? Carrying on for the people that came before.

BILL SELF: I think the players feel it after they've been there. I'm not sure they feel it before they get there. We talk about there's only one place you could ever play for where the inventor of the game was your first coach. That's pretty strong. I'm not sure it really resonates with the players until they've been there and can feel it and all the videos and all the things we show them and all the stories, I think they feel it.

Me personally, I was a GA there in '85/'86. We went to the Final Four. I had very little responsibilities, but I saw firsthand just what it can be like there. I mean, I take it very seriously, and I'm the caretaker of the most historic program that's ever been.

That's how I look at it. I know that's my perspective, but that's how I look at it, and I'm very proud to carry that because it does mean something extra when you stop and think about Naismith and Allen and Rupp and Chamberlain, manning, and you go down the list. It's pretty special to be in charge and be a caretaker in the brief moment in time that we actually are.

Q. Bill, all those things you mentioned, Remy Martin would not fit in a lot of different ways. He's a very unusual player, unusual for you to have someone who can go get his and often does in the way that he does. I wonder if you could explain a little bit about what it's been like to coach him and try to incorporate what he does into what you've done for 20-some years.

BILL SELF: Well, Remy is probably different than anybody I've ever coached, but I've loved coaching him because I love his personality and I love his energy and these things. It's just been unfortunate for him this year because he's probably had as frustrating a year as I can ever remember somebody that wasn't out with a season-ending injury.

He comes to practice, works hard every day, does an extra two to three hours of treatment, whatever it is, and you get to practice and some days maybe he can go and some days maybe he can't even go. We recommended that he shut it down. He shut it down.

Now I see and have seen what his presence can actually mean and how it can benefit a team. I'm still trying to figure it out, to be honest, how to incorporate him the best I can, but to give him credit because he's figured out how to fit in with what we do.

So I give him the credit. He's been awesome. But we didn't have anybody that you could run bad offense and come away with a basket, and he's one of those guys, and that's so important this year.

Q. Bill, I wondered if you could comment on Dave's work ethic and how much he wants it compared to some of the other bigs in terms of getting ready for games and stuff.

BILL SELF: I think we've had a ton of guys that want it and their preparation is great and everything. I think I probably respect David's prep more than most because guys, if we practice at 3:00, you show up at 1:30, you get taped, you go to weights, you practice, and you go home. With David, you practice at 3:00, weights at 2:00, show up at 11:30 to get treatment and do all the things that he's doing probably six days a week, seven days a week. Just so he could go to practice.

His prep work for opponents is probably very consistent with others, but what he has to go through to put himself in a position to play, I can't help but respect that a ton.

Q. Bill, how special is it to not only get here but have two local guys in Christian and Ochai play such a big role in getting you to this stage?

BILL SELF: It will be special to get here regardless. We've never put an emphasis on recruiting local kids, we've put emphasis on obviously just going out and getting the best kids, and we've been able to recruit national for the most part. But it is pretty special that within 45 minutes of your home you have arguably two of the very best wings on any team in college basketball.

And they were recruited, but they weren't highly recruited. Whenever you're not a starter on your AAU program, that's usually not the guys that Villanova and Kansas and Carolina and Duke will recruit, and they turned out to be as good as anybody we've ever recruited.

Q. Speaking of local guys, you've had a Teahan on your team every time you've made the Final Four. I know you know the family very well by now. How much of a good luck charm do you treat them as?

BILL SELF: The Teahans have kind of become the first family of our program because we've had, I believe since 2007, we've gone to four Final Fours, and Connor was a part of two, and now Chris has been a part of two, and they both put their handprint all over everything we do.

So really proud of them, but the family's been unbelievable. They have one younger one Marcus, but he's just a student on campus. So I don't think we can get him out, but they have been kind of our good luck charm.

Q. Coach Wright was out here talking about 2018, and he kind of almost described it like it was an anomaly, caught fire, it's happened to him. Just your thoughts on the game that you guys played in 2018 and if you have a similar takeaway.

BILL SELF: I haven't wanted to think about that since 2018. They were unbelievable that day. They made 18 threes, probably made 12 the first half. I don't know the exact number. They jumped out on us 22-4, if I'm not mistaken. It wasn't over before it started, but it wasn't far off. By that under 12 or under 8 time-out, we had a long, long hill to climb.

That was a special team he had, maybe one of the best teams college basketball has seen the last decade. Certainly when you're that talented and that well coached and drilled and then you play your very best on a particular day, you're going to be tough for anybody to handle, and they certainly were too much for us that day.

Q. To add on to that, that 2018 team versus this year's team, how are they similar, how are they different?

BILL SELF: Our team specifically? That team that we had, we had a center that was playing hurt. He had strained his MCL right before then, so he wasn't quite himself. I got to be honest, that '18 team was hot coming in here. We won a great game against Duke in the Elite Eight game, and we had probably the hottest guard in the country in Malik Newman at that time, and then we still had Devonte' and Svi. So we were playing with potential pros.

This year's team, we've got two or three guys that I think can make a living playing this game for a long time at that level. But I don't know that I would say this team was more talented, but I think I could say this team was more connected on both ends. I think this year's team has become better defensively, and offensively we're not far behind at all what that team was.

So I like this team. I think we've got a collection of really good players, and then when really good players play well together, I think we can play at a really high level.

Q. Coach, what are some of the characteristics of a Jay Wright team? And also, what are some of the crucial things you've learned about coaching in a Final Four?

BILL SELF: I think Jay's teams, if you were to ask coaches across America, I think, that played against him, they'd say they're unbelievably sound, they're fundamental, they don't turn it over, you have to beat them, they don't beat themselves. In our sport, there's probably more games lost than there are games actually won, and they're not going to help you beat them.

So that would be something -- that would be a great compliment if anybody ever said that about my teams. They probably don't, but if they did, I would take that as a compliment because obviously they're very, very good and sound.

My experiences in the Final Four, I actually had my best experience the first time, but the biggest thing that I think you have to do here, you have to find some way to keep minds and bodies fresh. This is draining and taxing for many. It is up until Saturday, and if you're fortunate enough to win, then it's even more so after that.

So finding a way to keep guys off their feet, to keep guys not thinking about things, burning energy in the hotel room, things like that, and then obviously have them play with freedom. Those would be the things that I would try to stress the most.

Q. Gillespie, his numbers shooting the three, he's great at the free-throw line, assists. Just comments about him. Does it remind you of anyone in the league now or previous that you have faced?

BILL SELF: He kind of reminds me going way back to Mike Nardi, and then he reminds me of Arcidiacono and then he reminds me of Jalen Brunson. All those guys have certain qualities that they can all post up, they can all take care of the basketball, they're all good shooters, and they're unbelievable leaders.

Any time you're two-time Big East Player of the Year and obviously an All-American, you've got to be able to play. I think he's really a talent, but I think his leadership and toughness equals his talent. I think he's a terrific college player, terrific.

Q. You kind of went through this situation a little bit with Creighton with Kalkbrenner going down. You get a situation with Moore going down. How much can you prepare now, limited tape for a guy who plays 35 minutes, but you get the extra week to dig into things, how much does that change the dynamic there?

BILL SELF: I don't know there's a lot to prepare differently because I think Jay is still going to do what they do. They did play a game against Connecticut earlier in the season when Justin was out, and Villanova played arguably one of their best games of the year. I think they hung 85 on Connecticut and 6 of 11 from three and 21 of 22 from the line. And they did try to post their guards still the same way, even though Justin's one of their better posting guards. But they were able to play without him.

So they can draw from that and know they're very capable of playing very well even without Justin. We'll watch that, and we have watched it, but I don't know if it showed me a lot of different stuff, but it showed me that no matter who they got out there, they're capable of playing the same way they've been playing.

Q. Coach Self, talk about the last time you made it to the Final Four. Is this team similar to that team, or is it a little bit different?

BILL SELF: Is my team similar to that team?

Q. Yes.

BILL SELF: I would say we're similar in some ways. That team shot the ball better and had more guys that could probably shoot with range, but that team was average defensively. Even though we haven't been great defensively all year long, I do think we're more capable on that end than maybe the other team was.

I don't think we have as many prolific three-point shooters, but I think we've got five or six guys that have all scored at least 22 in a game this year, so they're more than capable. There are some similarities, but I actually think this year's team -- I wouldn't have said this in January -- overall looking at both ends, I think is probably a more consistent and better basketball team.

Q. I want to ask about a rotation question. The under 16 usually go to the lineup with Remy and Mitch in there. It seems like you guys go on some runs when that lineup is in there. What do you like about what that group brings, and what's made it so effective through the postseason?

BILL SELF: Remy, he brings energy, he brings speed and everything. To me, Mitch brings shot blocking and rim protection, things like that. He's become pretty good at that. I don't know that we're a lot different or we're better, so to speak, but it seems like to me that Mitch in six years we've been watching him add energy to a game when he comes in, and we're definitely seeing that with Remy as well.

So it just seems like to me it's a more energetic bunch whenever that team plays together.

Q. Looking back on this past season, is there a signature win or loss that you feel that may have gotten this team, I guess, kind of together, cohesive to make this type of run that they're on right now?

BILL SELF: I don't know that there's a win that I would say that one like really brought it all together for us, but there was a loss that certainly helped us on gameday in late January Kentucky came in our house and put it on us. And there was a big difference between what our team looked like than a team that could win a National Championship looked like on that day.

Even though we didn't really talk about it like that, everybody in our locker room knew that we had a long ways to go because that was a very eye-opening and humbling day. And through that, I think that was a catalyst to kind of tell us, hey, we think we may be okay, but we're not near as good as we think we are, and I do think it helped us.

THE MODERATOR: We want to thank Coach Self for joining us here in the main interview room.