A tumultuous season at Kansas has had an unexpected consequence: coach Bill Self has spent more on hair-care products.
“I’m not going to say I haven’t purchased Just For Men at some point in time over the last several months,” Self said to laughter Friday.
It’s been a rough season in Kansas, starting with the indefinite suspension of Silvio De Souza after his name surfaced in a federal probe into college basketball.
The Jayhawks also lost big man Udoke Azubuke to a season-ending wrist injury and senior guard Lagerald Vick left the team for personal reasons.
The attrition has forced Self to get creative with his lineups and coaching style, closing the season with four freshmen starting and a lineup he never would have expected at the start of the year.
“Sometimes the way we play in the past isn’t as available to us now, so we have to figure out different ways to do things,” Self said. “It’s been fun for me to try to tweak some things to get the most out of them.”
If there’s any bigger insult in sports than calling a player a choke, it might be calling a player a bad sport.
Auburn’s J’von McCormick clutched his throat as New Mexico State’s Terrell Brown was toeing the free-throw line with 1.1 seconds left, getting ready for three shots that would decide Thursday’s game.
Brown missed two and Auburn prevailed by a point. On Friday, coach Bruce Pearl came to McCormick’s defense: “That’s not at all his character,” he said, “and that’s not at all ours.”
Pearl said McCormick came to Auburn on a scholarship when nobody else would, agreeing to come to a school not known for its basketball program without a guarantee of a starting spot.
“To his credit, he said, ‘I’m going to come in and push them,’” Pearl said.
The coach said he hadn’t seen footage from the dramatic ending of Thursday’s game, but he did address it with the junior guard from New Orleans.
“You have given the world an opportunity to focus on that, which I wish they wouldn’t, but sometimes you have a responsibility,” Pearl said. “So we’re dealing with it. All it is, you look at is as a lesson, not only for him, but for the next guy.”
Michigan State freshman Aaron Henry doesn’t know what all the fuss is about.
Tom Izzo’s heated exchange with him on the court during the Spartans’ first-round win over Bradley on Thursday has drawn wide attention on social media and from pundits opining about the coach’s fiery methods. But Henry said Friday that it was just Izzo being Izzo.
“No abuse was done. Nothing bad was done. It was just coaching,” he said. “That’s what he is, that’s his life, that’s his job. Coaching. You can’t be upset how he does it.”
TV cameras caught Izzo laying into Henry as he came off the court during a timeout, and players stepped in to separate the two in the team huddle. Izzo said after the game that he was upset with the level of effort Henry was playing with at the time.
“My parents loved my response. I didn’t show disrespect or fight back,” he said. “Not that I wanted to, which in this period in general, most people would have in this generation. Not me.”
Henry said he doesn’t doubt Izzo has faith in him. After all, he is a freshman starting for one of the top teams in the country and playing about 30 minutes a game the last month.
If Wofford was looking for some bulletin-board material for its second-round game against No. 2 seed Kentucky, Nick Richards provided it.
The 6-foot-11 center said bluntly Friday that the Wildcats have better big men than their next opponent. He calls is “a really good advantage for us.”
Richards says Wofford’s “bigs are skilled around the basket, they know how to move around the floor, but we’re just better than them overall.”
Even though leading scorer and rebounder PJ Washington will not play because of a sprained left foot, Richards says he, 6-10 EJ Montgomery and 6-8 Reid Travis should have a big edge Saturday against the seventh-seeded Terriers.
As Richards put it, “They’re not even as athletic as all three of us.”
Kentucky coach John Calipari was taken aback by the comments. He never wants one of his players to talk badly of an opponent, but the coach went on to say he’s glad Richards is confident.
Wofford big man Cameron Jackson shrugged off Richards’ assessment. He says it’s “not about proving them wrong. It’s about doing what we’re comfortable doing and making an impact on the game.”