As the opening tip approaches this afternoon, Kansas coach Bill Self knows what will happen to his team.
?I think our locker room will be pretty juiced going out,? Self said. ?I can?t predict exactly what our feelings are going to be in the locker room, but this should be the most competitive we?ve felt all year long.?
The home wins over Kansas State and Texas Tech were emotional for different reasons. Revenge pushed the Jayhawks over the Wildcats, and the seniors? swan song at Allen Fieldhouse gave the Red Raiders no chance. But this one, a 3 p.m. clash at Texas A&M, should bring out whatever fire dwells within the No. 5 team in the country.
At least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title is on the line, and no coach has understood how to handle his team under that unique circumstance in recent years better than Self. What will he do to motivate the Jayhawks in that locker room in the bowels of Reed Arena? Not much, actually.
?I think a coach can orchestrate it to an extent,? Self said, ?but I think in games like this, you don?t want the coach to orchestrate it too much. Because if you put too much emphasis on something that you know they?re already totally juiced for, it can create anxiety or anxiousness, nervous energy. You probably want your team as calm as it can be during stretches like this.?
When to push, when to relax. When to yell, when to say nothing at all. Self must get it. If KU beats the Aggies, Self will clinch his eighth league title in 10 years, his fourth with Kansas after winning two each at Tulsa and Illinois. One thing is for sure: He fits in at KU.
You know the stat. It?s the most impressive one in Jayhawk lore, more so than the 12 Final Fours and two NCAA championships.
Fifty conference titles.
If KU gets its share with Texas or the outright title in 2007-08, it will have won or shared eight of 12 since the Big 12 began with the 1996-97 season. Only Duke ? which will play for its eighth tonight against North Carolina ? has dominated its league on par with the Jayhawks.
?To be able to sustain success over time means you probably have a program and not a team,? Self said. ?It?s much easier to have a great team than it is to have a great program. Programs sustain hits and keep moving. Teams don?t sustain those.?
All of Self?s Kansas teams have taken some hits along the way. These Jayhawks went through a February funk, but, with some help, are on the precipice of another ring.
That doesn?t surprise one former Big 12 coach who went against KU twice a year for six seasons. Barry Collier, who coached Nebraska during 2000-06, has marveled at the Jayhawks? run of regular-season success.
?You?d have to back up 12 years ago and ask, ?Who?s going to win eight of the next 12?? ? said Collier, now the athletic director at Butler. ?Looking in reverse, what they?ve done is a tremendous accomplishment, because it?s a great league. There?s no minimizing what they?ve accomplished. It?s been a great run with Roy and Bill.?
Kansas fans, of course, would trade a deep NCAA Tournament run for another Big 12 title any day.
But among coaches, continued success in the grind of league play makes a bigger statement.
?The dominance that Kansas has shown through those seven championships in the last 11 years,? Collier said, ?is a more telling fact because it requires 16 games, year in and year out, versus getting hot one year and running through a 64-team tournament.?
Self?s program is geared toward winning the conference because that normally means your team is peaking late in the season.
?We?re structured to win the Big 12,? KU guard Russell Robinson said.
Robinson and KU?s seniors are going for their fourth in a row. The Jayhawks expect to win the Big 12, evidenced by Mario Chalmers? reaction when KU lost at Texas.
?We?re still the favorite,? Chalmers said.
Self tried to explain what his player meant by that.
?What he was saying is that when you?ve won three in a row, you still have to kind of go through that team to win it,? Self said.
?Right now, nobody owns the league.?
The statistics tell a different story.
?I think our locker room will be pretty juiced going out,? Self said. ?I can?t predict exactly what our feelings are going to be in the locker room, but this should be the most competitive we?ve felt all year long.?
The home wins over Kansas State and Texas Tech were emotional for different reasons. Revenge pushed the Jayhawks over the Wildcats, and the seniors? swan song at Allen Fieldhouse gave the Red Raiders no chance. But this one, a 3 p.m. clash at Texas A&M, should bring out whatever fire dwells within the No. 5 team in the country.
At least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title is on the line, and no coach has understood how to handle his team under that unique circumstance in recent years better than Self. What will he do to motivate the Jayhawks in that locker room in the bowels of Reed Arena? Not much, actually.
?I think a coach can orchestrate it to an extent,? Self said, ?but I think in games like this, you don?t want the coach to orchestrate it too much. Because if you put too much emphasis on something that you know they?re already totally juiced for, it can create anxiety or anxiousness, nervous energy. You probably want your team as calm as it can be during stretches like this.?
When to push, when to relax. When to yell, when to say nothing at all. Self must get it. If KU beats the Aggies, Self will clinch his eighth league title in 10 years, his fourth with Kansas after winning two each at Tulsa and Illinois. One thing is for sure: He fits in at KU.
You know the stat. It?s the most impressive one in Jayhawk lore, more so than the 12 Final Fours and two NCAA championships.
Fifty conference titles.
If KU gets its share with Texas or the outright title in 2007-08, it will have won or shared eight of 12 since the Big 12 began with the 1996-97 season. Only Duke ? which will play for its eighth tonight against North Carolina ? has dominated its league on par with the Jayhawks.
?To be able to sustain success over time means you probably have a program and not a team,? Self said. ?It?s much easier to have a great team than it is to have a great program. Programs sustain hits and keep moving. Teams don?t sustain those.?
All of Self?s Kansas teams have taken some hits along the way. These Jayhawks went through a February funk, but, with some help, are on the precipice of another ring.
That doesn?t surprise one former Big 12 coach who went against KU twice a year for six seasons. Barry Collier, who coached Nebraska during 2000-06, has marveled at the Jayhawks? run of regular-season success.
?You?d have to back up 12 years ago and ask, ?Who?s going to win eight of the next 12?? ? said Collier, now the athletic director at Butler. ?Looking in reverse, what they?ve done is a tremendous accomplishment, because it?s a great league. There?s no minimizing what they?ve accomplished. It?s been a great run with Roy and Bill.?
Kansas fans, of course, would trade a deep NCAA Tournament run for another Big 12 title any day.
But among coaches, continued success in the grind of league play makes a bigger statement.
?The dominance that Kansas has shown through those seven championships in the last 11 years,? Collier said, ?is a more telling fact because it requires 16 games, year in and year out, versus getting hot one year and running through a 64-team tournament.?
Self?s program is geared toward winning the conference because that normally means your team is peaking late in the season.
?We?re structured to win the Big 12,? KU guard Russell Robinson said.
Robinson and KU?s seniors are going for their fourth in a row. The Jayhawks expect to win the Big 12, evidenced by Mario Chalmers? reaction when KU lost at Texas.
?We?re still the favorite,? Chalmers said.
Self tried to explain what his player meant by that.
?What he was saying is that when you?ve won three in a row, you still have to kind of go through that team to win it,? Self said.
?Right now, nobody owns the league.?
The statistics tell a different story.
