KU’s Bill Self tied in career coaching victories with the ‘Wizard of Westwood’
Kansas coach Bill Self has something significant in common with fellow Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee John Wooden.
UCLA’s Wizard of Westwood won 664 games (against 162 losses, .804 winning percentage) in 29 years as a college head coach — two seasons at Indiana State followed by 27 at UCLA. Self has won an identical 664 games (against 202 losses, .767) in 26 seasons — four at Oral Roberts, three at Tulsa, three at Illinois and 16 at Kansas.
“Collectively we’ve combined for 11 national championships, too. I’ve got that going for me, too,” Self said with a laugh on a recent Hawk Talk radio show. Wooden won 10 national titles at UCLA; Self’s Jayhawks the 2008 NCAA title.
Not one to dwell over personal accomplishments, Self did seem intrigued when told by Hawk Talk host Brian Hanni he and Wooden were so close in victories.
Self and Wooden are tied at No. 27 in career coaching wins. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski is No. 1 at 1,111 wins.
“When Cindy (Self’s wife) and I were at Tulsa we were invited by Coach (Wooden) to spend the weekend with him,” Self said. “We were in Salt Lake — he and Kay Yow and Morgan Wooten.”
Self and Yow (former North Carolina State women’s coach) were presented the John and Nellie Wooden men’s and women’s coach of the year awards after the 1999-2000 season, while Wooten received the Contribution to Basketball Award as presented by the Utah Tip Off Club.
“Coach Wooden at that time was probably 93, 94, still very, very sharp,” Self said. “We got kind of close (after that weekend). I’m sure I thought we were closer than he (did). I’d call and visit with him a little bit. Every time I’d see him we’d try to visit. Billy Gillispie and I when we were at Illinois went and hung out with him for a while. Coach (Wooden) was a treasure, about as class a person as anybody could meet. What made him so great was he didn’t think he was great,” Self added of Wooden, who died in 2010 at the age of 99.
Self’s next chance at victory No. 665 will come Saturday against Eastern Michigan. Tipoff is 1 p.m. at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks (10-1) are coming off their first loss of the season — an 80-76 setback to Arizona State on Saturday in Tempe, Ariz.
Stanley heads to Oregon tournament
Cassius Stanley, a 6-5 senior shooting guard from Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth, Calif., who has a final recruiting list of KU, UCLA and Oregon, will be playing in a prep tournament in Hillsboro, Ore., Wednesday through Saturday.
He’s the No. 32-rated player in the recruiting Class of 2019 by Rivals.com.
“My favorite Cassius moments are his crazy dunks that he gets almost every game,” Sierra Canyon coach Andre Chevalier told Oregonlive.com. “To see somebody jump so easily and so effortlessly and to do some of the amazing things that he does is great.
“The thing I’ve learned while coaching Cassius is to be patient, because there’s often times that he needs to work through things in his own mind before he can make the adjustment,” Chevalier added. “I’ve learned to be patient with him and communicate with him and give him his space to navigate whatever’s going on in the game on his own.”
Stanley has described his game as a “mixture between Dwyane Wade and Russell Westbrook.”
“Cassius is a wonderful young man. He’s very friendly to all the students and staff around campus. He’s helpful to people walking around campus. … He’s a wonderful role model,” Chevalier told Oregonlive.com.
Big 12 tourney talk
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced in October that the Big 12 men’s basketball championship would remain in Kansas City through 2024.
The extension — the current contract was to have run out after the 2020 tourney — means the event will have been in KC 23 of 28 years.
KC was the initial host the first six years of the conference (1997-2002) and again the host in 2005 and 2008. It has been in KC every year since 2010.
The only other cities that have hosted are Dallas and Oklahoma City.
“The only thing I can say is it’s my favorite neutral court that we’ve ever played on,” KU coach Self said of the Sprint Center. “Naturally K-State and ourselves can benefit from the crowd base because (it’s) obviously more local, but props to Kansas City.
“They have made this event very important and part of the fabric of what Kansas City is doing through the sports commission and it is an important part of Kansas City and the things that go on within it. I think that Kansas City deserves a pat on the back for how important and how much they put into the tournament and getting it back again,” Self added.
Self lauds assistants
KU coach Self recently praised his assistant coaches on Hawk Talk. The current group of Kurtis Townsend (15th season at KU), Norm Roberts (eighth season) and Jerrance Howard (sixth season) have been together as a group the last six years.
“I think Kurtis and Norm are both basketball junkies,” Self said. “Kurtis comes from maybe as big a basketball family as there is. His dad is 80 or 83. He’s still coaching.”
Raymond Townsend Sr., dad of Kurtis, is a longtime California high school basketball and baseball coach.
“Raymond (Jr., Kurtis’ brother) was a starter at UCLA,” Self added. “Kurt was a good player. He can’t get enough of it (basketball).”
Kurtis Townsend played point guard at Western Kentucky and also played in the CBA.
“Norm is the same way. He’ll tell you at the time he was the all-time leading scorer at Queens College, which is true. At the time, their winning percentage was about 15 percent when he played. I tell Norm all the time even bad teams have a leading scorer,” Self added jokingly.
Roberts is the third leading scorer in Queens College history with 1,719 points and the school’s career leader in steals (253). He is second all-time in assists (460).
“They (Townsend, Roberts) are good for Jerrance because Jerrance is a young guy that is coolest with the guys (current players),” Self added jokingly. “He can certainly learn from the other two.”
Jerrance Howard played for Self at Illinois for three seasons. During his career the Illini went 104-31 and were 48-16 in the Big Ten.
“Jerrance and K.T. are in charge of the guards. They will take all individual improvement and work on different things. Norm takes our bigs. He does a great job with our bigs,” Self explained. “They all do a terrific job. We divide scouts (scouting reports on opponents) equally. So much of coaching is actually scouting.”
Self added that in putting together a staff, “you want their skill set to be different from your own. I don’t want an assistant coach who knows what I know. I want them to bring something new to the table that adds to what I can learn. Also (to bring things) from a contact standpoint, recruiting standpoint. You don’t hire people just because you know them, you hire people who can do things better than you in certain areas.”
Ballard’s team is 8-2
Self on former KU player and staff member Brett Ballard who has the Washburn Ichabods off to an 8-2 record so far this season. Ballard’s first Washburn team went 22-10 and reached the NCAA Div. II tournament last spring, losing in the first round.
“Brett will add to Washburn. As good as Chip (Bob Chipman, Ballard’s predecessor with 808-353 record over 38 seasons) was, Brett will add to it in time. Brett loves his administration and everybody over there. It’s a great fit,” Self said.
“Brett … if I ever want an honest assessment of where we are at, there’s nobody more honest and blunt. Brett is not one of those guys who will just tell you what you want to hear. Brett is organized, disciplined, has personality, people like him, players react to him. He’s professional on all fronts. There will never be another Chip (but) Brett will be loved over there a long time.”
