Bill Self Remains at KU

Hardly a year goes by when the Kansas Jayhawks win less than 25 games and fail to reach a top 5 seed in the NCAA tournament. Given their reputation as one of the elite and storied programs in college basketball, the Jayhawks will continue their winning ways in the future regardless of their head coach. The head coach, however, will ultimately play a significant role in just how far the team goes, and because of this Kansas made a good move in keeping Bill Self. He brought out something in the Jayhawks that allowed them to write a different ending to a season that came down to a stretch eerily similar to that of 2003, when Kansas fell to Syracuse in the national title game. The Jayhawks fell behind their opponent in both games at the start of the second half, and as the final buzzer approached, it appeared Kansas was destined to come out on the losing end. They trailed by 7 against the Orangemen with 2:04 to go and trailed by 9 against the Tigers with 2:12 to go, and after impressive runs both games came down to a last second shot for the tie. Both Michael Lee and Kirk Hinrich had a chance to push the 2003 game into overtime, yet failed to convert on their 3s, whereas Mario Chalmers made his to force overtime in 2008, at which point the Jayhawks never looked back, winning their first national title since 1988. Whether or not that difference of one shot can be attributed to Self, the bottom line is that his team accomplished a goal in 5 seasons that future hall-of-famer Roy Williams failed to accomplish in 15 seasons. He coached one of the most balanced and talented teams in NCAA history all the way to a national title 20 years in the making, and by choosing to stay Self has settled in at Lawrence. Up unitl last Monday, Kansas fans had been puzzling over why the Jayhawks kept falling short of an NCAA title despite playing some of the best basketball in the nation. This was a riddle that Bill Self had the answer to, and the Rock Chalk faithful can now sit content knowing that the future of Kansas basketball is in good hands. Should Self continue to coach the team as he did this season, there will be more championships where that came from.