Bill Self gives blunt take on where Kansas stands: 'We suck right now'

The Kansas Jayhawks dropped their second game out of their last three on Saturday, falling to West Virginia. Now, the frustration is growing for head coach Bill Self, who admitted after the game that the team is struggling right now.

“We suck right now,” Bill Self said. “But it’s right now. Everybody goes through ebbs and flows in the season. I mean, the last three games we haven’t played well. We’ve got to flip it.”

Kansas has slipped to 11-5 on the season. However, the 1-2 start in Big 12 play, during a season when the Big 12 is playing at a very high level, has led to some concerns about where the team is heading now.

For Self, there are also clear sparks of the team he wants Kansas to be. The problem has been consistency throughout the game. That lack of consistency, in turn, is where the team has run into issues.

“Because the thing about it is,” Self said. “The three teams that we played thus far, the common denominator with that is they’ve all played really well. So, that tells me that we’re not doing something to make them play poorly. You know, we can talk about a 16-0 run, which, obviously occurred, or whatever the deal is. But the bottom line there was a time we had 58 or 59 points with 15 minutes left in the game against the team that only averages giving up 67 or 68. So, it wasn’t our offense — it was at the end. But it wasn’t our offense up until the game flipped. It was the fact that we didn’t get consistent stops on the other end and finish possessions, and that’s a credit to them. I thought they played really well.”

To this point, Kansas has gone undefeated against Q2, Q3, and Q4 opponents. The problem has been their Q1 opponents, where the Jayhawks are now 2-5 on the season. Five of their next six opponents are Q1 opponents.

Bill Self on coaching in the Big 12

The Big 12 has proven to be one of the top basketball conferences in the country this season. That adds to the challenge for Bill Self and Kansas.

“First off, our league is a bitch. That is one thing,” Self said.

“Secondly, the way that I see this isn’t that we can’t have a terrific team, isn’t that we can’t get it flipped. The one thing that we have to know is, much like last year’s team and the year before too, not so much the year before that, we were a one seed. Is that margin for error isn’t like it used to be. We’re not bringing pros in on off the bench. Let’s just call it like it is. That’s not an excuse, because the guys out there are good enough, but the margin for error isn’t. If Markieff [Morris] and Marcus [Morris] want to take a couple possessions off and give up a couple of threes. You know what? You got to play a lot harder than that, but our Jimmies were better than your Joes.”

Next up for Kansas is a major test. The Jayhawks will return home to play Iowa State.