Fox Sports: Kansas blew it again in the NCAA tournament. Is Bill Self to blame?

[BleedGopher]

This is a pretty fair take on Self/KU and their postseason struggles (relative to expectations). Per Fox Sports:

5. What's the final verdict on Bill Self?

He's college basketball's Peyton Manning, a guy whose career, at least at this point, is defined by consistency rather than titles. He's one of the five best coaches in college basketball leading the most dependable brand in the sport and is better than anyone else at reloading teams in this era of one-and-dones.

As for the tournament woes? They're hardly the measure of a coach, but they can't be ignored, either. The game is the game.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-ba...ds-final-fours-jayhawks-2016-villanova-032816

Go Gophers!!

 

[Breakin' The Plane]

I've hated Kansas for ever and ever. Outside of the BIG teams I hate losing, the only times I'm truly happy during the NCAA tourney are the days when Duke and Kansas have been eliminated. Rock, Chalk, You Guys Suck.

 

[Otis]

He's better than anyone at reloading in this era of one-and-dones?

Has this writer ever heard of Calipari or Coach K? If he is so good at coaching up 5 star talent why did Diallo get so few minutes this year?

 

[Biggsohnasty]

Maybe I'm just way to easy-going but I guess in this single-elimination age, I don't consider making the Elite Eight "Blowing it"

Kansas may not win the title, neither do 300-plus teams every year. Judging a program only on championships is idiotic.

Self is a darn good coach and I actually think he's better when he's not hauling in 5-star guys.

Guys like Diallo, who don't know how to play basketball can't get on the court with him and he is perceived to be a poor coach. Like seriously, watch Diallo play and tell me what he brings to the team. Same thing with guys like Cliff Alexander last year, who is who knows where at this point.

Self is fine...if Kansas wants to fire him for not winning the tournament enough, every program save maybe 5 would gladly fire their incumbants to hire him.

That said, I'm not a Kansas fan either so seeing them lose brings me joy. Frank Mason would the starting point guard if I were to assemble a team of my least favorite players in college basketball.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Only one team at the end of the season has a coach that doesn't suck. Are Ben Jacobson, Tony Bennett, Tom Izzo, Mark Few, and Self all of a sudden bad/overrated coaches because their teams underachieved or blew big leads in the tournament this year? Conversely, is Texas A&M's Billy Kennedy a really good coach because his team got crazy-ass lucky vs. Northern Iowa?

My thought on this is, upsets happen every year. They're what make the tournament great, yes, even when you're a fan of one of the big dogs that gets sent packing earlier than expected and/or in gag-like fashion. Upsets happen to really good teams and really good coaches. No one wants to be on that end of a fan-base crushing upset, and no coach or program is immune (Self/KU, Izzo/MSU, K/Duke, etc.). This year was no different.

 

[EG#9]

The tournament is fluky, it's fairly rare for the best team to win it all. He dominates his conference every year and has his team "in the mix" of the National title discussion most years. Maybe that should result in more than "just" two final fours in fourteen years with one championship. On the other hand you could argue that he's got Kansas performing like the Bluest of the Blue Bloods despite not having the in state talent of some of the other Blue Bloods. UCLA, Indiana, Kentucky, Duke, and UNC all have had their ups and downs with UCLA and Indiana having been down so frequently in the last 10 years or so that it's not a slam dunk that they even belong in this group anymore.

 

[howeda7]

In any given year, it's understandable. But KU has under-performed their seed an awful lot in the Self era.

 

[bemidjigopher]

In any given year, it's understandable. But KU has under
Well when you win your conference every year I suppose that's bound to happen, not a bad problem to have. Also it's not like Nova is a push over they were ranked number one in the nation at one point this year, this isn't like losing to Bucknell or UNI in the first round.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Well when you win your conference every year I suppose that's bound to happen, not a bad problem to have. Also it's not like Nova is a push over they were ranked number one in the nation at one point this year, this isn't like losing to Bucknell or UNI in the first round.

You do the statistical analysis, and Kansas had about a 20% chance of winning the title. That's the highest of all the teams, but there's still an 80% chance that they won't. Kentucky last year was the highest I've ever seen - close to 50% - and got eliminated in the national semifinal. This whole thing is what makes it worth watching these games: you never know what's going to happen. It's beautiful.

 

[GophersInIowa]

In any given year, it's understandable. But KU has under-performed their seed an awful lot in the Self era.

I agree, but at the same time it is much easier to under-perform when you're consistently a 1 or 2 seed.

I've been somewhat of a Kansas fan since the days of Jeff Boschee. Growing up in western MN, we used to get a local channel out of Fargo that showed the North Dakota basketball tourney every year so I continued to watch him after he went to Kansas. He is from Valley City, ND.

I don't watch them as much as I used to but what they have done in the Big 12 is extremely impressive, and I like Bill Self a lot more than guys like Coach K, Roy Williams, Cal, and Boeheim.

 

[SelectionSunday]

12 straight conference titles in a major conference, in any conference for that matter. That is unheard of, unless your name is UCLA circa 60s and 70s. That is nothing to sneeze at. Yes, Kansas has had some early exits under Self, but conference championships -- despite conference realignment -- don't grow on trees.

Both Self and Izzo are finding out how difficult it is to win a 2nd national title, let alone one. I suspect both at some point will get their second in the near future, but nothing is promised even for great coaches.