KU coach Bill Self forces himself to watch tape of Final Four loss to Villanova in 2018
Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self normally doesn’t watch replays of season-ending losses.
They are too painful to relive, he’s said, in explaining his personal policy of the past, noting there’s nothing to gain considering his rosters change dramatically from year to year.
Self has made an exception this week. He’s viewed tape of Villanova’s 95-79 Final Four semifinal victory over KU on March 31, 2018 in San Antonio. Villanova has the same coach, Jay Wright, who runs the same system this year as he ran in 2017-18, making Self figure it’d be worth a current film review.
His Jayhawks (32-6) will take on Villanova (30-7) in a Final Four semifinal at 5:09 p.m., Saturday, at Caesars Superdome.
“I didn’t really watch it to try to have memories,” said Self, who indicated he “gets ticks whenever I think about it (that game).”
“I watched it to see when they backed their guards down, did they have the same action off the ball and stuff like that. When I said I watched it, I got through about 12 minutes of it. And after that, it was very obvious that I wasn’t going to learn very much from it,” Self added.
He doesn’t regret reliving that painful loss to ‘Nova this week.
“It was probably good for me to see from the standpoint of how dangerous they can be when they’ve got it cooking, which they’re capable of, because they’ve got guys that can stretch it from all spots,” Self said.
When Villanova is “cooking,” it is sinking threes and lots of them.
Villanova, which is led by guard Collin Gillespie (15.6 points per game, 108 of 264 from three for 40.9%) and forward Jermaine Samuels (11.1 ppg, but just 28 of 102 on three-pointers for 27.5%) has made 342 of 957 threes this season as a team (35.7%) compared to KU’s 267 of 751 (35.6%).
Part of KU’s defensive game plan will be to try to prevent a barrage of threes from falling.
Villanova hit 18 of 40 three-pointers in the 2018 Final Four win over KU. In the schools’ last meeting — ‘Nova’s 56-55 victory over KU in 2019 in Philadelphia — the Wildcats attempted 41 threes, making 10.
“It’s always a concern. Threes can highly affect the game for sure,” KU senior forward David McCormack said. “As long as we need to do what we need to do as far as guarding ball screens … their guards are always moving. We need to communicate on defense as always. If we have the pride that we’ve had recently in our defense we’ll be in good shape,” he added.
Kansas guard Christian Braun said Villanova deserves its reputation as a team that will launch threes early and often. Caleb Daniels has made 57 of 151 for 37.7%, Eric Dixon 17 of 33 for 51.5% and Brandon Slater 30 of 94 for 31.9%.
“They are really good at getting threes off set offense,” Braun said. “We’ve got to be disciplined, close out, not go for the pump fake, be ready for the back cut. We’ve got to be ready to guard, mentally lock in the things they do and their personnel.
“It’s a big thing,” Braun added of stopping the three, “especially if they come in and get hot early, it’s tough to stop them. It’s always a key to stop the three.”
KU guard Remy Martin respects Villanova’s long-range shooting ability.
“We’ve got to lock in from the start, make sure they do not get too comfortable,” Martin said. “Run them off the line. The main thing is to really lock in defensively individually. If we do that we’ll be in good shape.”
Kansas senior guard Jalen Coleman-Lands said the best way to stop the three is “don’t let them shoot. Be in the right place. It’s positioning, knowing personnel, who can shoot, who can’t. This is hard because pretty much everybody on their team can shoot. Be aware, try to be there on the catch. Limit the times they get the shot off. They are known for their ability to shoot the ball.”
KU sophomore guard Joseph Yesufu said the Jayhawks “have to run them off the line. We also have to play without fouling. Their free-throw shooting is hthe ighest in NCAA history (519 of 625, 83%). Run ’em off the three and play without fouling.”
KU coach Self said one problem is Villanova does not resemble any team the Jayhawks have played this season.
“Our team was very defensive oriented. We had some of the best defensive teams in the country in our league,” Self said. “But even from that standpoint, there was a common thread about not breaking down, be sound, those sorts of things. But how the ball was forced and the switching and things like that was certainly a little bit different. So I don’t believe that we’ve gone against anybody during our regular season that would actually prepare us for the style that Villanova plays.
“We’ve got guys in our league that may post guards, but we don’t have guys in our league that have guards get the ball at 20 feet and dribble into a post-up. It’s totally different and certainly not easy to prepare for.”
If KU wins, it will meet either Duke or North Carolina in Monday’s national title game.
This story was originally published April 2, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "KU coach Bill Self forces himself to watch tape of Final Four loss to Villanova in 2018."
