Bill Self: Yeah, I like the location too. I mean, San Diego — if you can't go to St. Louis or Oklahoma City, that’d be my next pick for sure. So yeah, I like where we're going. And I actually like that it's on Friday, just to give us an extra day. We could use some practice time, so I like that.

We're studying Cal Baptist right now. I don’t know as much yet. I know who the coach is and where they are and the league they’re in and winning it and all that stuff. I know they’ve got Dominique Daniels Jr. — if I’m not mistaken — averaging about 22 or 23. He’s shot around 180 threes this year, so I know that’ll be a top priority. But I’m looking forward to studying them tonight and getting a better feel and better look at them.

Question: What's it like being with the guys as the draw was unveiled? How do you feel about the team’s overall spirits and mood right now?

Self: I actually thought we were great today. We watched tape of Kansas City and then watched tape from when we were playing much better with our ball screen coverage and things like that. We had a very spirited practice today. I feel good about that.

No matter what in this sport, whenever you don’t feel well, you always feel better after you practice. The guys’ attitudes were great. They’re excited.

Question: What do you remember about playing in this arena 10 years ago against San Diego State?

Self:I remember it like it was yesterday. If I’m not mistaken, Perry Ellis had a big game. I remember the town being great. I don’t remember that game much — you must have been drinking.

But it’s a great venue because, if I’m not mistaken, the inside of the arena is terrific, but the outside is all outdoors. That’s kind of cool. You can only really do that in certain areas of the country, and that’s one of them.

Question: You’ve had teams enter the tournament with momentum and others that were around .500 down the stretch. Does that matter?

Self:I think it does matter. I’m not going to lie and say it doesn’t. I don’t think it matters a ton from an energy standpoint, but you always want momentum going into something.

That’s why I said playing on Friday might give us a little more time for momentum. I’m not going to blow smoke and pretend it doesn’t matter. If you play on Saturday, you might as well win because if you lose, Sunday becomes an off day and it’s harder to figure out when to practice.

If you’re going to be a Pollyanna-type guy, which I usually am, I actually think the extra day was good for us — especially for one player more than anybody else, Melvin. You can probably tell his body’s getting a little run down. He’s playing 39 minutes a game and doing a lot.

I gave him the day off today. He got Saturday and Sunday off while everyone else practiced.

Question: He seemed hard on himself after both games. Is that related to fatigue?

Self:I think it is a little bit. When have we seen him not bring energy this year? We’ve said it all year — we’re beating him up, we’re burning him out.

Even though these guys are world-class athletes, his body has never been through anything like this before. Mentally it causes fatigue too. But he’ll be fresher and ready to go in large part because of the extra time.

Question: Some national analysts say nothing teams will see in the tournament will be tougher than the Big 12. Do you agree?

Self: We played seven games out of 33 against teams ranked in the top five at the time we played them. That doesn’t include Iowa State when they were around seventh.

I don’t know how many teams go through a gauntlet like that.

There are two schools of thought: one says that kind of schedule wears you down but prepares you. The other says your team should be fresher if you didn’t go through that gauntlet. I’m going to choose to believe we’ll be more prepared.

But it’s a hard league. Houston played great the other day, and we missed 17 shots in a row or whatever it was. Hard to look efficient when you do that.

Houston, Arizona, Iowa State, Texas Tech — and BYU finished 9-9 in the league and still got a six seed. That tells you the respect for our league.

Question: Cal Baptist is making its first NCAA tournament. Does that matter?

Self:It’s the first time for some of our guys too.

Could it matter? Maybe. But when I coached Tulsa, that was the first time for those guys and they did fairly well. I don’t think it’s a huge factor.

Riverside is close to San Diego, so I’m sure they’ll bring a good contingent of fans.

Question: What did you think about getting a four seed and not playing closer to home?

Self: Over my years I’ve realized a lot of times what you wish for isn’t really what you want. And sometimes what you hope doesn’t happen turns out to be a benefit.

Location matters some, but in the NCAA Tournament it doesn’t always create the same advantage as the regular season or conference tournament.

It’s hard for fans to travel three weekends in a row. A lot of people plan out which weekend they can attend.

So I’m good with whatever.

Question: How difficult is your region?

Self: Well, we’ve got the number one overall seed, which probably means we’re the 16th team on the four line.

You’ve got UConn as a potential two that was on the one line just days ago. Michigan State as a three. And in my opinion the hottest five seed — St. John’s — who just won the Big East and beat UConn by 20.

Yeah, it’s hard. But honestly, this year it feels like the 3-6 seeds are closer together than in past years.

Question: Did you predict a four seed?

Self:I thought we’d be a four or five. Based on how Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Wisconsin played today, I thought four was possible.

Question: If you win you could face Northern Iowa or St. John’s and Zuby Ejiofor.

Self: Northern Iowa already beat us in the tournament once. And we’ve played Ben before in a second-round game.

I’ve never played Rick Pitino in the tournament, and I believe he’s as good as anybody our business has ever had.

If we’re fortunate enough to get past Cal Baptist, we’ll prepare really hard for that. And I’m happy for Zuby. We didn’t want him to leave, but he made the right decision for him. He’s a terrific kid.

Question: Bryson Tiller probably needs to impact games if you’re going to make a run.

Self: We’ve talked all year about what he needs to do.

I’m not going to punish Bryson because I didn’t feel he was as good in certain areas as I hoped. He’s had a really good year for us, but he’s got to take another step. And he’s more than capable of doing it.

Question: How do you feel about your team overall heading into the tournament?

Self: I feel fine. I like our guys.

At times we’ve played as well as we’re capable of playing, and other times we’ve been the polar opposite.

Are we on a roll where momentum is building and gaining steam? I don’t feel that.

But I do know what one win in the NCAA Tournament can do for momentum.

I don’t think we’re much different than anyone else in the tournament right now.

Question: You said on senior day you have a player who can carry a team for two or three weeks. What about Darryn Peterson?

Self: He’ll be excited.

None of us played well enough in Kansas City to see what we could do. A lot of people put emphasis on him because of the hype, which is fair.

But the reality is I want him to make us better and I want us to make him better. I don’t think we came close to maxing that out in Kansas City.