KU’s Self on fans kept out of NCAA Tournament games, ‘It doesn’t just stink for us’
Kansas’ basketball players huddled around coach Bill Self after a short, 35-minute pre-Big 12 Tournament shootaround Wednesday afternoon at the Sprint Center.
This was not a normal rah-rah interaction prior to the players heading to the locker room. It was serious business as KU’s 17th-year coach informed the Jayhawks that NCAA President Mark Emmert had announced plans to play the upcoming NCAA Tournament with no fans in the stands in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
It provided quite a conclusion to the second practice of the day — the other was at UMKC — held in advance of the Jayhawks’ 2 p.m. Thursday quarterfinal against either Iowa State or Oklahoma State.
Fans watched first-round games Wednesday night but won’t be able to on Thursday as Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced after Self’s press conference that the general public will be barred from the rest of the men’s tournament at Sprint and the entire women’s tourney at Municipal Auditorium.
“From a body language standpoint they seemed OK,” Self said told media members, referring to his players learning about the NCAA Tournament. “I explained to them why it happened. Nobody is picking on you. There will be a ton of things moving forward that will affect the workplace, affect everybody in some way, shape or form.
“It’s unfortunate (but) there will not be an asterisk next to it (saying), ‘Well they played without fans’ in the record books,” he added.
“You still have a chance to have a very similar type legacy. I did tell them this: It will be the highest rated television tournament anybody has ever seen. That’s a positive (in which) you can be part of that,” Self added with a smile.
He was not grinning when he began a short news conference after the shootaround in the Sprint Center.
“We’ll we’ve had all of five to seven minutes to think about it. I told them (players) it sucks, but it doesn’t just stink for us. It stinks for everybody that wants to go be entertained at a concert or anywhere. It stinks for the (stock) market, certainly sporting events, schools moving forward, whether or not we will be able to have school on campus or do everything online. It’s far bigger than just men’s basketball,” Self said.
The NCAA’s Emmert said NCAA Tournament games will be played before “essential staff and limited family attendance.”
“Certainly it’s sad for the fans,” Self said, “sad for the players. ... you are playing for the highest stakes on the brightest stage. Certainly it’s hard to imagine that being the case if nobody is there in person to see it.”
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Sign upKU announced it will cancel all fan activities, including pregame parties and pep rallies, for the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.
Self — his Jayhawks are expected to be the overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament — said a lot in his short huddle with the team on the Sprint Center court.
“I told our guys, ‘Why did we all start loving this game and why did we start playing it? Did we do it because we wanted other people to watch us or did we do it because we actually loved it?’” Self said.
“We need to get back to our roots, our child(hood) roots in which you got turned up to play if you are playing shirts and skins in the park. I’m sure the games will still be highly competitive. It will be different, have a different feel. The kids will still play like there’s no tomorrow, which it is in a one and done situation.
“They’ll make the most of it. We’ll all make the most of it and still enjoy the process and actually participate.”
Self did come up with a positive reason for the NCAA making this decision.
“The positive that will come out of it hopefully is it will reduce the risk of spreading and people coming in contact with the virus,” Self said, “which hopefully will reduce the risk of spreading and people coming in contact with the virus which hopefully will impact our society in a less negative way. I don’t think it can impact in a positive way but certainly less negative.
“In our bad years (record wise) if we have no chance to have a great year in whatever we are doing let’s do what we can to minimize the bad and hopefully this is one of those situations.”
Self said he would be in favor of leaving the regional sites as they are. He said he would be OK if games were moved to smaller venues in the host cities.
KU sophomore David McCormack said: “Having fan supporters around is always a great feeling having a crowd with you, but this situation is definitely bigger than basketball. It’s more about health and well being which we understand. We just have to have that same love of the game to play. Even though they are not there we know they’ll be supporting us.”
Freshman Christian Braun noted: “We obviously want to play in front of fans, but it’s bigger than us. We play for the love of the game. It’s business as usual.”
And senior Isaiah Moss said: “We know we still have that fan base. We still have supporters. We will go out and compete at a high level.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 7:40 PM.
