What if ... KU basketball coach Bill Self could choose a starting five of KC Chiefs?
A huge fan of the Kansas City Chiefs, Kansas basketball coach Bill Self on Monday agreed to answer a hypothetical question involving the two-time defending Super Bowl champs.
“If you could choose anybody up and down the Chiefs roster — from Harrison Butker to Xavier Worthy and every player in between — who is your five, and why, if you were assembling a basketball starting five of Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs?” Hawk Talk radio show host Brian Hanni asked Self, KU’s 22nd-year hoops coach, in a playful tone.
“I don’t know the talent or skill level of all the guys on the Chiefs, but you know every football player wishes they could play basketball. That’s a given. I imagine most of them did (at some point),” Self said, speaking in front of a packed house at Johnny’s Tavern/West Lawrence.
He started by offering the starting center spot, the 5-spot, to Chris Jones, a 6-foot-6, 310-pound defensive tackle out of Mississippi State.
“Even though he is not tall in nature, I think Chris Jones would have to be the guy I would want walking around the airport with me in case anybody pops off or anything like that,” Self joked.
“The 4-man I still think has to be the guy that dates the popular (singer) … what’s his name, Kelce? Oh yeah, Travis. I would say Travis would for sure be my 4-man,” he added of Travis Kelce, a 6-5, 250-pound tight end out of Cincinnati who happens to date international superstar Taylor Swift.
“One of my big guards I think would be No. 32, (Nick) Bolton,” Self responded, referring to the 5-11, 237-pound linebacker out of Missouri. “Gosh almighty, he is in every play it seems defensively. I’d take him in a heartbeat.”
His choice at 2-guard would go to “a decent playmaker now and a decent quarterback,” Self said of Patrick Mahomes, a 6-2, 225-pound signal-caller out of Texas Tech, who actually played football, basketball and baseball as a youth.
“I’ve actually watched highlights of Patrick,” Self added of tapes of Mahomes playing basketball in high school. “He liked to shoot it more than he did pass it back in high school. I would say Patrick would be our starting 2-guard. He was a good basketball player. He could score. I would say he is definitely an above-average all-around athlete without question.
“We were talking about this today,” Self continued, referring to a conversation with his co-workers in Allen Fieldhouse. “I was googling sports franchises evaluations, what teams were bought for the last time they were sold and what they’d be projected to sell for if they were to be sold today. The Chiefs when the Hunt family bought them ... it was obviously many years ago. It was a very reduced price. Right now, the franchise has obviously escalated in an unbelievable manner.
“Look at the Dallas Cowboys, Manchester United in soccer, all of the biggest franchises. I was thinking, ‘How much would it be worth if Patrick Mahomes has at least five good years left in him, if somebody would buy that franchise (now)? I bet he’s worth more than a billion dollars to whoever would buy that. What he means to the community, what he means to winning .
“In Kansas City I’m sure George (Brett, Royals) was the guy before and rightfully so,” Self continued. “Has there been anybody who rivals the importance to the city, state and to the community? He is generational. Without question, he’s generational.”
Hawk Talk host Hanni, who worked as play-by-play broadcaster of Texas Tech athletics prior to coming to KU in the summer of 2016, said former Tech basketball coach Tubby Smith told him Mahomes was good enough to make the Red Raiders basketball roster, though perhaps as a non-scholarship walk-on.
Hanni said the baseball coach at Tech said if Patrick “applied himself to baseball 100% of the time he would have been a generational pitcher, the best the Big 12 had seen.”
“His father was a generational pitcher obviously,” Self said of Pat Mahomes, who pitched in MLB from 1992 to 2003 with the Minnesota Twins, Boston Red Sox, New York Mets, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Back to Self’s lineup … his choice for point guard?
“My starting point guard, I don’t know if he can play a lick or not … but he is so athletic and he’s so good. ... Cornerbacks and wide receivers are usually the best athletes. I’d take McDuffie as my point guard,” Self said of Trent McDuffie, a 5-11, 193-pound cornerback out of Washington.
“That team would be really good,” Self added, assessing the group of five. “I do not know if anybody other than Patrick can really play (basketball) but I think that would be a feared team if in fact they put on the tank top and the shorts.”
A Hawk Talk caller pointed out that DeAndre Hopkins, a 6-1, 218-pound receiver, actually played basketball at Clemson.
“I did not know that,” Self said, adding him to the make-believe KU roster as sixth man. Hopkins played in seven games during the 2010-11 season at Clemson.
The Chiefs, by the way, will meet Houston at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in an NFL Divisional Round playoff game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. KU’s basketball team will play Iowa State at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa.
