KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pat Knight wants to keep the ball out of his starting point guard’s hands.

Knight said at Thursday’s Big 12 Conference men’s basketball media day he wants to see John Roberson spend a little less time taking the ball down the court, opening up opportunities for Roberson to play more of an off-guard position. Knight said the junior’s strong shot off the screen is a major reason he wants to see the change.

“I want him to be more well-rounded the next two years, because he really is,” Knight said. “People haven’t seen what a good player he is cutting and moving off of screens.”

Roberson started all 31 games last season and had 201 assists. He took the most shots of any Red Raider, but off-guard Alan Voskuil often got more open looks and finished with a higher shooting percentage.

Now, Knight thinks almost anyone who grabs a rebound will be able to take the ball up the court. When that isn’t Roberson, the point guard will be able to come off flare screens or down screens and look for shots.

“His assists may go down this year, but that has nothing to do with him,” Knight said. “It’s just because we have better players and I can get him more involved in our entries and motion and coming off the screens instead of having to handle the ball all the time.”

Self image conscious
Kansas coach Bill Self said he wants to make sure last month’s brawl between Kansas’ football and basketball players doesn’t detract from his team’s good image.

For the short term, Self said, the team looked bad because of last month’s series of altercations with members of the football team. A football player was reportedly shoved down a flight of stairs and basketball player Tyshawn Taylor injured his thumb and had to be taken to the hospital.

“I’m not real happy with our guys for those events that took place,” Self said. “But if we were that undisciplined and irresponsible that selfish motives could get in the way or something so insignificant as that at that point in time, then we weren’t obviously disciplined or responsible enough to win big.”

Self said he looks at the event as happening in the offseason and not affecting what Kansas does on the court this year. He hopes it eventually has the positive effects of making the team more disciplined and responsible.

Get a doctor
Texas A&M’s athletes flew solo at media day, while their coach, Mark Turgeon, unexpectedly did not make the trip to Kansas City.

Turgeon reportedly came down with a flu bug and was unable to attend.

He wasn’t the only coach fighting illness in the preseason. Nebraska’s Doc Sadler lost his voice and had difficulty answering questions.

Capel lauds talent
Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel already has his all-Big 12 team set. He even praised the league as possibly having the best player at each position in the country.

Capel said Kansas’ Sherron Collins is the nation’s best point guard, OU’s Willie Warren is the best combo guard, Oklahoma State’s James Anderson is one of the best wings, Iowa State’s Craig Brackins is one of the most underrated forwards in the country and Kansas’ Cole Aldrich is the best center in college basketball.

Fortunately for the rest of the league, they aren’t all on the same team.

“Because of the talent level that our league has been able to attract,” Capel said, “it makes the basketball a very, very high level.”