I've made no secret here of my respect for Bill Self. He's no Frank Martin, but I've always liked the guy anyway. That's beginning to change a bit, as I read what he's been saying about Robinson and the Morris twins leaving early for the draft. After initially making the obligatory "Kids need to do what is best for their families" comment, he proceeded to say the following things about three of the best big men in the Big 12 this year:
On Robinson, who is projected to go in the top half of the first round: "He has the most room to improve. He can take a leap like Markieff did this year..." [This despite the fact that the kid desperately needs to start making money to support his family.]
On Marcus Morris, the Big 12 POTY: "Marcus needs to improve his perimeter skills. He needs to be a three." What can be said in defense of this quote? The kid is the best non-Jake player in the league! He can work on his perimeter skills in the NBA. His stock will never be higher than it is right now.
Not directly about Markieff Morris, but seems to have been directed that way, when Self claims that before a kid should leave, he should have 4-5 teams in the lottery interested in them, saying there "Should be backup plans" and trying to spread fear about guys leaving early with an imminent NBA lockout.
All of this smacks of desperation, and I don't remember Frank doing anything even close to that when Beasley and Walker were making their decisions. I think Self is staring a potential 11-7 conference record in the face, and is trying to scare these three kids into sticking around when they shouldn't. It bothers me to see this from a coach I always kind of respected.