Bill Self Just Wins Games. It’s What He Does
March 25, 2009 – 12:27 pm by Michael Bean
I wrote it last month, last week, and I’ll do the same once more – Bill Self, despite his setbacks several years in early rounds of the tournament, is truly one of the best coaches in America, if not the best. All he does is win, no matter where he goes. A year after leading the Jayhawks to the National Championship, Self has Kansas just two games away from a trip to Detroit and yet another Final Four. In the opening round against the Bison of North Dakota State, Kansas had a little bit of a scare before eventually pulling away late for a 84-74 victory. In the 2nd round against the Dayton Flyers, the Jayhawks got their defense cranking, limiting the Atlantic 10 regular season runner-up to just 49 points in their 11 point victory. Self joined KLAC in Los Angeles on Tuesday to talk about the previous weekend, what he was most pleased with, least pleased with, and what his team needs to do to move on this coming weekend against perennial powerhouse Michigan State.
On whether he thinks his young team will hold up now that the Jayhawks are in the tougher rounds of the Big Dance:
“I think by this time of year if you play in one of the tougher conferences, which ours is. I’m not saying it’s the toughest – the Big East is by far the toughest this year. But the Big 12, we’ve had three teams in the Sweet 16 still. I mean we’ve played some good people this year. Three of our four non-conference losses were against teams still playing.”
Good point Bill. Don’t sleep on Kansas. Just don’t.
Listen here to Self on KLAC in Los Angeles
Watch highlights of Kansas vs. Dayton
View Midwestern region bracket coverage on CBS Sportsline
Tags: Bill Self, College Basketball, Kansas Jayhawks, Kansas vs. Michigan State, KLAC, March Madness, NCAA Tournament
