Norm Roberts, Jalen Wilson on what it meant to talk with Bill Self before Big 12 semifinal

Kansas has reached the Big 12 Tournament championship game, even with coach Bill Self‘s hospitalization following a recent illness.

The hospitalization hasn’t kept Self from trying to help out his guys, even from a hospital room. Interim coach Norm Roberts explained just how well Self is feeling in the hospital.

“He’s just getting better. He’s just getting better,” Roberts said. “We talked to him today, earlier this morning. Went over the game plan of how we wanted to guard and what we wanted to do.

“He was good with that. He talked to us right after the game. He was so excited about how the guys played. You know, he gets excited about defense more than anything else and he said, ‘Hey, we really guarded today,’ and he was really happy for our guys.”

Self also managed to relay to his players how proud of them he was.

“It was great to talk to him, hear his voice,” forward Jalen Wilson said. “He was super proud of how we did last game, and I am sure he will be proud of us, how we did today. He said just go out there, continue to play the right way and continue to play Kansas basketball. It was great.”

More on Bill Self’s hospitalization

The news of Bill Self’s hospitalization surfaced early on Thursday morning when the school put out a press release to announce the news. In the release, the school stated that Self was, “doing well,” and that assistant coach Norm Roberts would coach in Self’s place.

“Kansas Men’s Basketball Coach Bill Self will miss today’s Big 12 Tournament game as he recovers from an illness,” the release from the school read. “Assistant Coach Norm Roberts will serve as the acting head coach. Self is doing well and receiving great care at the University of Kansas Health System.”

While the main focus is on Self’s health, there is no doubt that the news casts a bit of a dark cloud over the upcoming postseason run for the Jayhawks, as they look to defend their national title from a year ago. Kansas ended the season by winning seven of its final eight to win the Big 12 title outright.

Self and the Jayhawks earned the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., and are lined up to possibly earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Self is aware of how important another run in March is for his team.

“We’ve talked a lot about it,” Self said Wednesday on the start of the Jayhawks’ postseason run, according to KUSports.com. “We’ve talked about we’re going to Kansas City to try to put ourselves in position to win this thing, but knowing we better take one game at a time. But I haven’t put emphasis of to win it. I’ve put the emphasis on let’s go play our best. What the (Big 12) tournament does, it can validate what your regular season’s been. And this is an opportunity to validate it.”