University of Kansas

Here’s Kansas basketball coach Bill Self’s take on Chiefs-Ravens AFC title game

Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball coach Bill Self, an admitted Kansas City Chiefs fan, was asked Thursday if he had a prediction for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game between the Chiefs and Baltimore Ravens.

Kickoff is 2 p.m. Central Time at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

“I think the Chiefs will prevail. I think they will win,” Self said Thursday at a news conference held ahead of the KU-Iowa State Big 12 basketball game.

KU plays the Cyclones on Saturday in Ames, Iowa, in a game that tips off at 12:30 p.m. inside Hilton Coliseum.

“I think there’s something about people saying they (the Chiefs) have had an easier path, because they haven’t played a road game (in their recent runs to the Super Bowl),” Self said. “That galvanizes a locker room, (so) when you go to a place, you are more connected than you ever have been. I’ll take (KC quarterback) Patrick (Mahomes).”

Mahomes, a two-time league and Super Bowl MVP, has led the Chiefs to the AFC Championship Game for six straight seasons.

The Chiefs enter Sunday’s game with a 13-6 record, while the Ravens are 14-4. The top-seeded Ravens beat the Texans 34-10 in last week’s NFL playoffs Divisional Round, while the No 3-seeded Chiefs stopped Buffalo 27-24 in Orchard Park, N.Y.

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Gary Bedore
The Kansas City Star
Gary Bedore covers KU basketball for The Kansas City Star. He has written about the Jayhawks since 1978 — during the Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Bill Self eras. He has won the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year award and KPA writing awards.
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