During a busy Tuesday, KU basketball coach Bill Self updates The Star on roster plans
Kansas basketball coach Bill Self started Tuesday of finals week at his office on campus.
He relocated to Wichita, where he spoke to the Air Capital’s KU Roundball Club, returned to Allen Fieldhouse to conduct a 90-minute practice, then scurried to Kansas City, Kansas, where he held a Q&A session with approximately 35 young people enrolled at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Kansas City/Breidenthal unit.
He also shared a basketball update with The Star, regarding KU’s roster composition moving forward. We’ll get to that in a moment.
“The day didn’t start early. We didn’t have to be in Wichita until 11:30 in the morning, then we came back for practice,” Self told The Star on Tuesday after joining forces with Dayton, Ohio company CareSource to present a check for $10,000 to go toward refurbishing the basketball court in the Troup Avenue Boys and Girls Club gymnasium that is named for 21st-year KU coach Self.
“This is what we do this time of year. We try to set up as much stuff during finals week as possible because we know the players aren’t going to practice for more than an hour, hour and a half. It’s not hard,” added Self, who also fulfilled Roundball speaking engagements this week in Topeka and Kansas City, Missouri.
Self — his Jayhawks defeated Missouri 73-64 on Saturday with the next game to be played against Big Ten school Indiana at 11:30 a.m. Central on Saturday — didn’t seem tired, but full of energy during his speaking engagement with the youngsters Tuesday night in KC.
“I grew up in the Boys and Girls Club in Oklahoma City when I was young,” Self told the attentive youths. “I lived outside the (OKC) area but spent a ton of my time at the Boys and Girls Club. That’s where I learned to play basketball, in fourth grade.
“Many of the players we recruit at Kansas grew up in the Boys and Girls Club, too. It’s had an impact on my life and the lives of many of our guys who have played at Kansas.”
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Self told The Star nothing is in the works regarding possibly adding a player to the 2023-24 roster for the second semester. The Jayhawks currently have a rotation of nine scholarship players.
“I won’t say never, but that’s not on the agenda right now. We don’t have anybody as of today we think will be coming at the (semester) break,” Self said.
Asked if he’s sent any of KU’s coaches overseas to scout prospective players, Self said: “We wouldn’t go over there unless we knew they’d be available this time of year. Right now we don’t know that positively.”
The bottom line is the odds of bringing in a player at semester break are 5%, 10%,” Self said. “Not very high. We don’t have anybody on the board right now.”
More from the Boys and Girls Clubs event
Self said he’s committed to working with CareSource on refurbishing other courts at other Boys and Girls Clubs in the state of Kansas.
“I’ve always been taught being active in athletics is the other half of education,” Self said. “You’d have imbalance in your life if you have one without the other. Back when we were young we rode bicycles everywhere we went. I don’t know how many kids own bicycles now. It’s a different world. There are major health concerns that go with inactivity. Having a place where kids can be active regardless if it’s playing basketball or kickball, dodgeball … there are a lot of things in a gymnasium that can provide some activity for everybody.”
He said he enjoyed what turned out to be a full Tuesday.
“It’s great,” he said. “I don’t get a chance to do things like this as much as I’d like to or should. Coming from dealing with a bunch of 20-to-22-year-olds from practice, coming over here and hanging out with some youngsters is kind of refreshing. They actually acted like I was kind of nice and cool.”
He continued.
“The guys I hang out with all the time think I’m not that cool and maybe not so nice,” Self added, smiling.
This story was originally published December 12, 2023 at 10:21 PM with the headline "During a busy Tuesday, KU basketball coach Bill Self updates The Star on roster plans."
