KU Jayhawks’ Self watches on TV as Baylor clinches Big 12 regular-season title
Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self watched the end of Baylor’s Big 12 title-clinching victory over West Virginia on TV on Tuesday night while at the same time fielding questions on his weekly Hawk Talk radio show.
“There is a true champion this year. It’s the Baylor Bears without question,” Self said of the Bears (19-1, 11-1), who bounced back from Saturday’s 71-58 loss at Kansas with a 94-89 overtime victory over the Mountaineers (17-7, 10-5) in Morgantown, West Virginia.
The Bears clinched their first-ever Big 12 regular-season title and first league championship since they won the Southwest Conference regular season in 1950.
“Those two teams that played tonight can beat anybody in America. They could also lose to anybody in our league. That’s kind of how this is,” Self said.
“Baylor clinched the championship this year which is great. (I’m) disappointed it’s not us. We didn’t deserve to have a chance (after losing four of six games in one stretch). West Virginia played their tail off,” Self added, “but who won this game and who executed better on one possession in the 44th minute doesn’t take away if they play again, West Virginia could easily win. That’s how good a game it was. That’s how good West Virginia played tonight.”
Baylor, which spend 20 days on the sidelines battling COVID-19 issues, played two games last week, will play three this week and could conceivably play three games at the Big 12 Tournament (March 10-13).
The Bears in conjunction with the league officials, have re-scheduled several games late in the regular season to try to play as many games as possible. They’re on track to play 14.
“I do think there’s something about our round-robin that makes our league different and special. I know not everybody could get to 18 (games) but I think we should have done everything we possibly could to get to 18 if possible,” said Self, whose own team is 18-8 overall and 12-6 in the league. “I kind of disagree and this is not being critical of anybody (the idea that), ‘Well it’d be overload for guys (rescheduling games).’ We are going to play three games in three days in the Big 12 Tournament if you are good enough to get to the finals. We do that every year.
“Three games in one week is hard. We’ve done it. Every team in our league has done it. I think our women’s team had to do it twice in back-to-back weeks. I don’t think anybody was feeling sorry for them saying they’ve already done it one week (so) they can’t do it the next week.”
Self noted that, “the object of this season in my opinion and based on what we all talked about among all the coaches in the league is, ‘Let’s get in as many games as we can.’ The reason we have the off week this week is so we can reschedule make-up games (which all teams except KU, which has completed its slate, are doing). We are going to get in as many games as we can (as a league).”
The Jayhawks’ last Big 12 regular-season game was Saturday’s 71-58 victory over Baylor. That’s the Senior Night game in which KU senior point guard Marcus Garrett scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished two assists in 35 minutes, while helping hold Jared Butler to five points. Butler scored 25 points against West Virginia on Tuesday.
“There have been some good games here (on Senior Night),” Self said. “I think if you were just watching visually (Saturday), you would probably say this wasn’t as special because of the number of people here (2,500 versus the usual 16,300) and the fact his (Garrett’s) family couldn’t be on the court (for pre-game ceremony because of COVID-19 protocols), but when you really watch it, based on Marcus’ words and based on how well he played and based on his family all having a chance to be here and based on the video they (marketing department) did on Marcus, I think it’s as good as any one we’ve had. I thought Saturday was as special as any of them.”
He was so happy for Garrett he phoned him on Sunday, the team’s day off.
“I said, ‘Hey bud, you weren’t great, you were special,’’’ Self said. of the 6-foot-5 senior from Dallas. “I don’t say that much about our guys. I thought he was that good in the game. I said, ‘I just hope it’s a memory you’ll treasure.’ He said, ‘Coach I’ll never forget this.’ That’s a man of few words even though he spoke a really long time (in 10-minute Senior Night speech). For the first time this year it felt like old times,” Self added of the atmosphere in the fieldhouse.
Self was asked if Baylor was the best team to visit Allen Fieldhouse in the 18-year Self era.
“It was a terrific team. That team Oklahoma brought in here with Buddy (Hield) when he got 46 (points) was an unbelievable team,” Self said. KU defeated the Hield-led Sooners, 109-106, in triple overtime on Jan. 5, 2016.
“I try to think off the top of my head. I don’t know if Kentucky has had as good a team as Baylor when they’ve come here. I don’t know if Michigan State has. I don’t know if Villanova has or Texas has even though Texas has had some hard-rocking dudes (like Kevin Durant). That 1 versus 1 game (KU was No. 1 in one poll; OU in the other) was a different level of ball at least as far as talent plus athleticism plus skill-level plus execution.
“Baylor is one of those teams. I give them a ton of credit. I said this last year: ‘I don’t remember a better team in our league than Baylor,’ and we won league by two games. You look back over time and step back a bit ... that Oklahoma team had some pieces. Baylor could prove out to be that team. They haven’t had that opportunity yet,” Self noted.
KU will next meet UTEP at 7 p.m. Thursday in Allen Fieldhouse. It was revealed on Hawk Talk that KU’s athletic department is providing 1,300 tickets to first responders in the Lawrence area.
“These people have sacrificed so much,” Self said. “Hopefully they’ll have some people who would like to come to the game and check out their Jayhawks on Thursday.”
