COACH SELF: We're thrilled to be here and have a chance to play for a championship. Last night was a great night for us, as it was for Carolina also. But it's time to forget about that and get focused on what's next.
Q. What was your reaction to how your guys responded after the victory, body language, emotions, things like that? You've talked a lot about coming here to win it.
COACH SELF: We were obviously happy. I thought after you win, body language was fantastic. I don't think we spent a lot of energy in the locker room after the win, though. I think we were thinking, at least the best you can, next play.
And we got right back to the hotel and had dinner around 10:30 or whatever it was, 10:00 or 10:30 and went to bed. So we didn't start talking about Carolina until this morning. But I thought they responded just the way you should respond.
Q. You talked about this before, but it's been a while for your program to have won a national championship. And obviously it means a lot to anybody. But specifically for Kansas, for you even, kind of getting back on that horse, what does it mean for you guys?
COACH SELF: Well, it has been. We've had some really terrific seasons and some great teams that came up short. And I do think that when you have as many good teams as we've had -- at most places winning one national championship would be quite an accomplishment -- I think as many good teams as we've had, one's not enough.
And so I don't think that I personally feel pressure that we have to win. But I do know that when you have a chance to coach at a place where you have an opportunity to be in the game most years, you need to take advantage of that more than we have.
Q. You referenced this a bunch of times. But how tough was missing 2020 in that you probably would have been the number one overall seed, could have gotten here, everybody missed it but how tough was that?
COACH SELF: It was tough for everybody. I mean, that was just a tough year all around for everybody, no matter what you did as a profession. Everybody was affected in some way. It was probably maybe our most equipped team to go deep in the tournament, at least going into a tournament.
We had the best big man defensive player in the country. We had the best guard defensive player in the country and we had a second-team All-American on top of that. So that was tough for our guys.
But they handled it well. And probably what made it a little tougher was the year before we got knocked down in the second round the year after we get knocked out in the second round. So getting here is I think pretty sweet for us, in large part because many guys on this team didn't have a chance to play in it when we had -- I don't know if we had a legitimate shot but it would have taken a pretty good effort to knock us out.
Q. Bobby Pettiford is obviously from our area there. Did you have a chance to talk to him about your opponent for tomorrow and what that might mean for him yet?
COACH SELF: He told me a minute ago, they played on CP3. I believe Leaky is a few years older but they came out of the same program. And Bobby is -- people in Carolina don't know this yet but he's going to be a terrific player. He's just been hurt. He hasn't had a chance to play, is out for the season. But he has told us some. I know that he's excited about it even though it's in a limited role.
Q. You didn't necessarily need Remy to go off last night, and that's maybe the beauty of having a player like that on your team. You sort of mentioned that was a team you wanted to add. Curious if you wanted to walk us through the changing transfer roles and this extra year of eligibility that COVID gave everyone kind of change the way you could go about roster building, given that you're not just looking to high schoolers or people willing to sit out a year?
COACH SELF: I think in the power conference programs, I still think you want to build with your high school kids. I think it's real important that you have a good November, early signing period, and try to attract the best players you can.
But what the transfer portal does, it allows you not to take a step back whenever you have unexpected things happen during the season. So, for instance, that happens a lot whether it be another guy transfer or where there be a guy or two declare for the draft and have a good year that's maybe ahead of what your schedule was for him. Those sorts of things.
You can't get a freshman in the spring like that because they're already taken. So the transfer portal allows you to fill in the gaps, which allows programs to stay at the level that they're presently operating at. And there won't be as many dips like this because of the portal. And what was your second question?
Q. What was your reaction to how your guys responded after the victory, body language, emotions, things like that? You've talked a lot about coming here to win it.
COACH SELF: We were obviously happy. I thought after you win, body language was fantastic. I don't think we spent a lot of energy in the locker room after the win, though. I think we were thinking, at least the best you can, next play.
And we got right back to the hotel and had dinner around 10:30 or whatever it was, 10:00 or 10:30 and went to bed. So we didn't start talking about Carolina until this morning. But I thought they responded just the way you should respond.
Q. You talked about this before, but it's been a while for your program to have won a national championship. And obviously it means a lot to anybody. But specifically for Kansas, for you even, kind of getting back on that horse, what does it mean for you guys?
COACH SELF: Well, it has been. We've had some really terrific seasons and some great teams that came up short. And I do think that when you have as many good teams as we've had -- at most places winning one national championship would be quite an accomplishment -- I think as many good teams as we've had, one's not enough.
And so I don't think that I personally feel pressure that we have to win. But I do know that when you have a chance to coach at a place where you have an opportunity to be in the game most years, you need to take advantage of that more than we have.
Q. You referenced this a bunch of times. But how tough was missing 2020 in that you probably would have been the number one overall seed, could have gotten here, everybody missed it but how tough was that?
COACH SELF: It was tough for everybody. I mean, that was just a tough year all around for everybody, no matter what you did as a profession. Everybody was affected in some way. It was probably maybe our most equipped team to go deep in the tournament, at least going into a tournament.
We had the best big man defensive player in the country. We had the best guard defensive player in the country and we had a second-team All-American on top of that. So that was tough for our guys.
But they handled it well. And probably what made it a little tougher was the year before we got knocked down in the second round the year after we get knocked out in the second round. So getting here is I think pretty sweet for us, in large part because many guys on this team didn't have a chance to play in it when we had -- I don't know if we had a legitimate shot but it would have taken a pretty good effort to knock us out.
Q. Bobby Pettiford is obviously from our area there. Did you have a chance to talk to him about your opponent for tomorrow and what that might mean for him yet?
COACH SELF: He told me a minute ago, they played on CP3. I believe Leaky is a few years older but they came out of the same program. And Bobby is -- people in Carolina don't know this yet but he's going to be a terrific player. He's just been hurt. He hasn't had a chance to play, is out for the season. But he has told us some. I know that he's excited about it even though it's in a limited role.
Q. You didn't necessarily need Remy to go off last night, and that's maybe the beauty of having a player like that on your team. You sort of mentioned that was a team you wanted to add. Curious if you wanted to walk us through the changing transfer roles and this extra year of eligibility that COVID gave everyone kind of change the way you could go about roster building, given that you're not just looking to high schoolers or people willing to sit out a year?
COACH SELF: I think in the power conference programs, I still think you want to build with your high school kids. I think it's real important that you have a good November, early signing period, and try to attract the best players you can.
But what the transfer portal does, it allows you not to take a step back whenever you have unexpected things happen during the season. So, for instance, that happens a lot whether it be another guy transfer or where there be a guy or two declare for the draft and have a good year that's maybe ahead of what your schedule was for him. Those sorts of things.
You can't get a freshman in the spring like that because they're already taken. So the transfer portal allows you to fill in the gaps, which allows programs to stay at the level that they're presently operating at. And there won't be as many dips like this because of the portal. And what was your second question?
