KU’s Bill Self says he won’t file formal complaint over his ejection in ASU loss
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Bill Self won’t file a formal complaint over his Tempe ejection.
- Self says officiating was mixed; he accepted first T but disputed others.
- KU rallied late but fell 70-60; they face K-State at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self says he isn’t planning on sending any emails to the Big 12 Conference office to inquire about the two technicals that led to his first-half ejection from the Jayhawks’ 70-60 loss to Arizona State on Tuesday night in Tempe, Arizona.
“You know what? I think when you do those things I think it’s kind of a whiny (bleep) boy type attitude to be honest with you,” Self said on Wednesday’s “Hawk Talk” radio show.
Self was whistled for a ’T’ after complaining about a foul called on KU freshman Darryn Peterson as Peterson attempted to race past ASU’s Bryce Ford. Peterson had attempted to free himself in order to receive a possible pass on a route that took the duo under the goal and down the baseline.
The FOX announcers broadcasting the game believed the contact should have resulted in a foul being called on Ford.
Shortly after administering the technical to an enraged Self, referee Doug Sirmons hit KU’s coach with another tech, ostensibly for remaining on the court instead of returning to the coach’s box.
Self was finished for the night, his Jayhawks trailing 23-16 at the time of his ejection.
“There were a lot of conversations without me being involved by people today — you know, from the higher-ups. And if I’ve got an issue, I’ll handle it. I’ve known John Higgins. He’s called my games for 35 years or whatever so I don’t need anybody else to do that for me,” Self added of anybody giving Higgins (who assigns officials for the Big 12 and other conferences) a call on his behalf.
“So I don’t need anybody else to do that for me. I watched the tape and the thing about it, with officiating — and I’ve been doing this a long time now — it’s easy to get worked up when things don’t go your way and it’s more easy to get worked up when things don’t go your way because your team is doing poorly. And that was kind of the situation last night.
“Did I think we got a good whistle? I’m not even going to comment on it, because I don’t think the whistle cost us. I think there were a couple of key moments that were very, very crucial toward the game continuing in a way that I think everybody thought it would when the game started. But, I watched the tape, and I’ll be honest, we probably got the benefit of the calls on some and some we didn’t.
“But isn’t that life?” Self continued. “That’s the way it works in sports when human beings are the ones that have the striped jerseys and the whistle in their mouth, so I am not going to go down that path whatsoever,” he added of filing any formal complaints or inquiries to the league office.
Self said part of the reason for his concern about the foul called on Peterson is, “I I don’t think that our guy has gotten a great whistle all year. I think he’s held a lot off the ball and that’s an emphasis — freedom of movement. I thought that’s what happened last night. Even if it was a good call I would have argued it because how can you call a foul on him pushing off when he gets held every single play?
“I’m not sure it was a good call, but I argued it, and deserved what I got. I came out the box. And so, yes, I got a technical and the second one actually was not wanted whatsoever. I did not know I was going to get a second technical, obviously.”
KU played poorly the rest of the half, trailing 40-20 at the break.
“Of course I would hate leaving the team out there especially when we’re getting our butts beat. But that’s what happened. They chased me and I had no recourse but to go hang out in the locker room and watch it on the computer,” Self said.
“I was able to do that. And then, of course, Jacque (Vaughn, assistant coach who took over for Self as head coach) got one pretty soon after that (with 43 seconds left in half and KU down, 36-20). There were three different officials that all gave them out. So I thought they shared the wealth very well in doing that.”
Yes, officials Randy McCall and Bret Smith also hit KU with technicals. McCall issued a technical to Vaughn ostensibly for complaining about a call, while Smith issued a Flagrant One foul on KU’s Elmarko Jackson for his contact on Allen Mukeba on a breakaway layup attempt with 11:21 left and KU down, 49-42.
“I will not ever say an official cost us anything,” Self said on the “Hawk Talk” show. “But in those two instances, I thought first one for sure (was deserved), but the second one and Jacque’s I couldn’t figure out how those were warranted, although they (refs) may feel differently and I’m sure they’ll explain to their supervisor that they feel differently, but I didn’t see those at all.”
Self was able to coach his team in the locker room at halftime. KU did cut the 20-point deficit to two in crunch time, but an 11-0 run put away the Jayhawks’ bid for a comeback win.
“It was a fairly spirited talk,” Self said. “We talked at halftime about we have four or five, four minute segments and if we can win all five segments, we’re going to win the game. After two segments the lead is nine. After three segments the lead is five. And then we got it to two and then they sprinted back out on us on a couple of bad plays that we made, where we didn’t finish.
“But that’s what happens in sports all the time. You play great in football, and you’re down three touchdowns in the fourth quarter and you cut it to seven, but you still have to recover the onside kick, and sometimes it doesn’t happen.
“All that effort kind of goes for naught because you couldn’t quite get there, and that’s kind of what happened. We had plenty of time yesterday, though. It’s a four-point game with five minutes left, two point game with four left. The law of averages kind of prevailed. We missed some bunnies, some easy shots that I would think normally we’d make, and we didn’t convert on some really good offensive rebounding efforts and next thing you know it got away from us.”
KU will next meet Kansas State at 1 p.m. Saturday in the regular-season finale for both teams at Allen Fieldhouse. The Big 12 tournament awaits next week at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
