Bill Self's biggest challenge? Keeping KU's heads -- and confidence -- afloat
OMAHA, Neb. -- Win one, you get Indiana or Wichita State. Win two, you get Butler or Notre Dame. Win three, you get Kentucky or ... Kentucky.
Burning Question No. 1, Devonte' Graham: Will Kansas embrace its bracket fate? Or cash out early?
"I think this team has an edge to us right now, because a lot of people are doubting us," Graham, the Jayhawks' freshman guard, told FOXSportsKansasCity.com Thursday before the team's workout at CenturyLink Center in Omaha. "And just saying things that I don't think (any) of us had said."
Such as?
"Like, 'We're scared to play such and such,' stuff like that. Like we're running from people and things like that. I just think we have an edge to us, just to like come out and prove people wrong."
Running from whom?
"I heard media say that we were running (from), I think it was Wichita State, or something like that," Graham replied. Then he shrugged. "It is what it is."
What it is is a juggling act in March for the millionaires with the whistles and the radio shows. Coaches this month earn their keep, more or less, spending half their day as strategists, the other half as amateur shrinks.
KU looked plenty beat up during a second-half fade against Iowa State last weekend in the Big 12 tourney. But which element of the Jayhawk locker room does Bill Self need to get absolutely right before Friday morning's NCAA Tournament opener against 15th-seeded and why-the-hell-can't-we-knock-off-a-Big-12-power-too-minded New Mexico State:
Their bodies? Or their minds?
Lookin' good! Check out our gallery of NCAA hoops cheerleaders.
"We don't get a chance to be an underdog all that often, so I don't think that's all bad," Self said. "We can sell it however we're going to sell it.
"I'm not going to spend a lot of time saying that people don't predict us to be this or that, because it doesn't really matter what people think. It only matters what we think. We certainly may spin it, but we will spin it in a way that I think our guys are pretty confident. They know what we can do whenever we're playing well, and I think they're confident that they're going to play well."
Confidence is a fickle mistress this month, especially when your roster spends the early part of the afternoon huddled together in a tiny locker room watching "name" schools, schools that give you trouble -- the aforementioned Cyclones, Baylor, Texas -- circle down the Bracketville toilet at the hands of names your kids have never heard of before.
Holy Poohsticks, are WE next on the abattoir?
"I mean, I don't know about that," center Hunter Mickelson countered.
"It's not that we're disappointed (to be in the Midwest Region); we're going to end up having to play teams like (Kentucky) anyhow. Might as well get ready for it. We're tuned in. We're ready. We've gone through practice well. I think we're mentally ready."
Self says power forward/team divining rod Perry Ellis looks as good as he's looked in two weeks after a so-so few games at Sprint Center -- but probably not as good as he looked, say, a month ago. Not yet. Thursday also gave the scribes a thumbs-up to off-guard Wayne Selden's ankle and center Landen Lucas' cranky hip. All good signs.
Now what about between the ears?
Once KU fans saw their draw, daubers sank. Beating Wichita State or Indiana on Sunday wouldn't make anyone feel especially better, while losing would sit like several burrs in an old saddle. The bar is always Final Fours, but anybody who has to cross Big Blue Nation's path to do it is probably clutching at straws of false hope.
"You would think we're not anyone's favorite pick to a lot of things, not to make it to Indianapolis," Self said. "In large part, because there are some really good teams in our field. But I'm not sure anybody's saying that New Mexico State or Notre Dame or Wichita State or Indiana is the 'one,' either, because everybody's in with Kentucky. So I mean, that's a big part of it."
Some teams need their egos massaged, and the rest takes care of itself. Others, Self has to whip out the jumper cables to try and turn the engine over.
Win the mind, hearts and brackets will follow. Or something like that.
"I feel everybody's excited," Ellis said. "(Everybody's) pumped. Everybody's focused. And that's key."
So, yes, Virginia (not that one), the path is brutal. Or an opportunity. Depends on how you want to spin it.
"But the bottom line is this," Self continued. "We're capable of playing with anybody when we play well. But we're also capable of being had when we don't play well. And we've even had ex-players tell us, 'Hey, we can beat anybody' or 'You can be beaten.' And I do think that this is true: There might be less margin for error this year than there has been in years past."
In other words, he's keeping those jumper cables within arm's reach. If Thursday's results taught us anything, it's too err on the side of caution. And goaltends.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.
