OMAHA, Neb. _ Clemson's basketball team reminds Bill Self of a squad near and dear to his heart.
That would be his own Kansas Jayhawks.
"You know what, I think if I was going to compare them to anybody, I'd compare them to us," Self, KU's 15th-year coach, said of the No. 5-seeded Tigers, who take a 25-9 record into Friday's NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional semifinal against the No. 1 seeded Jayhawks (29-7). Tipoff is 6:07 p.m. at the CenturyLink Center with a live telecast on CBS.
"You look at us and say, 'OK there's Malik (Newman) and Svi (Mykhailiuk), and obviously Devonte (Graham) and Lagerald (Vick). Three of those guys will be in the game the majority of the time for us, probably 100 percent of the time.' You could say the same about their threesome," he added of Marcquise Reed (15.9 points per game), Gabe DeVoe (13.7) and Shelton Mitchell (12.3).
"All three of those guys are like Malik. They could go out and get 30 (points). Or they could be like Devonte and go get 35 or be like Svi and go get 30. Those guys can really score the ball, are good with the ball. The other thing they probably do better than us is they can go get their own shot when the offense breaks down. That's always a plus to have this time of year."
The Tigers also have a capable big man in Eliljah Thomas, a 6-foot-9, 237-pound junior who averages 10.9 points and 8.1 rebounds a game compared to 7-footer Udoka Azubuike's 13.2 points and 6.9 boards. KU guards Graham (17.4), Mykhailiuk (15.0), Newman (13.4) and Vick (12.1) all are double-digit scorers as well.
"Like Coach said, they pretty much remind us of ourselves, basically not any (other) team in the Big 12," KU guard Marcus Garrett said. "We're similar ... their defensive principles, the way they move the ball, the actions they run. They just try to do the same thing, basically."
Self especially took notice of Clemson's first two NCAA Tournament games.
The Tigers beat New Mexico State 79-68, then crushed Auburn 84-53 last week in San Diego.
"I would say they were probably the most impressive team, I felt like, in the first weekend," Self said of the Tigers. His Jayhawks defeated Seton Hall 83-79 and Penn 76-60 in first weekend games in Wichita.
"They had a really nice win against New Mexico State, but against Auburn, that was a different level that, I think probably anybody played at last weekend. For me personally, being a defensive-minded coach first, how do we not allow those guys to have big nights?" Self added. "You're not going to shut them down. And certainly one guy could make six 3s or seven threes or whatever (DeVoe hit six 3s versus Auburn en route to 22 points), but you can't allow all of them to have big nights."
Self said it's hard to score on Clemson.
"Just because you are going to have to get the ball to the second and third side. You're not going to be able to attack on the first side against them because they are so sound defensively and their ball-screen defense is really good," Self said. "If it comes down to a late-clock situation where it's our players against theirs, or theirs against ours, their three guards have all shown they can go get their own.
"We have a couple of guys that are good at that, but probably not as good as what theirs are. I think that's real important we have great ball and body movement."
KU's guards realize there's a big test coming on Friday night.
"They have three terrific guards. They can go get their own shot," said KU sophomore combo guard Newman. He scored 28 points on 8-of-14 shooting (4 of 8 from 3, 8 of 8 from line) in Saturday's win over Seton Hall. "They play well off one another. We have to do a good job of containing those guards. And they have a really good big in Elijah Thomas (18 points, 11 boards vs. Auburn)."
Noted KU senior point guard Graham, who had eight points on 1-of-7 shooting and nine assists versus Seton Hall after scoring 29 points with six rebounds and six assists against Penn: "We've got to contain them, try to keep them out of the paint, make them take tough contested jumpers and keep them off the glass and out of transition."
Thursday's media sessions at CenturyLink Center included Clemson coach Brad Brownell expressing similar concerns about KU.
"I've seen them because they're on TV so much," Brownell said. "I kind of had known he (Self) was playing four guards and they were doing a mix of some dribble drive and some pick and roll and really spacing the floor. I think it's really good stuff. Right now I feel like they're really clicking. They just look like, in the last couple of weeks, that they are playing really high-level basketball."
Brownell's Tigers will face a KU team with a healthy Azubuike.
Self said the 7-footer should be close to 100 percent and will start. He sprained his left medical collateral ligament March 6.
"He's obviously huge," Brownell said. "And everybody you talk to about Kansas says, 'Wait until you see him in person.' We know he's got great size and he's extremely competitive and physical. You see a very competitive spirit in him in terms of how he plays and how physical he is. And if he gets the ball under the basket, you can't really stop him."
Brownell noted that, "we can't just let him stand under the basket and dunk balls and not have to play defense. We've got to make him play defense as well."
Brownell expressed some concern about location of the game, just a three-hour drive from Lawrence.
"The bigger advantage to me is just playing in front of 12,000 of your fans," Brownell said. "I think that's a significant advantage. I hope our guys are comfortable and confident and we go in here and we play like we did last week because we played really well," he added of what he deemed "a true neutral court out in San Diego."
Self conceded that "I think it's an advantage," referring playing in Omaha. "I think Wichita was an advantage for us. I'm not sure it'll be as big an advantage here as it was there. At Wichita, if the place seated 16,000 we had 13,000. It won't be like that here. But we'll have a great core group of fans here and hopefully it will play out to help us ... I'd rather it be close than not close, but I don't think it's a huge deal."
The winner of the KU-Clemson game will face Duke or Syracuse on Sunday for a spot in the Final Four.
