Kansas coach Self joins Calipari, Pitino at unofficial Hall of Fame meetup in Providence
The NCAA Tournament selection committee has convened Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers Bill Self of Kansas, John Calipari of Arkansas and Rick Pitino of St. John’s for first- and second-round games at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence.
The only inductee coaching a team in the field of 68 for 2025 who is not on hand this week in Rhode Island is Tom Izzo, whose Michigan State Spartans open in Cleveland as a No. 2 seed. Gonzaga’s Mark Few, a class of 2025 Hall finalist, is coaching his 8th-seeded Bulldogs in Wichita.
“I don’t look at it quite as deep as some other people do,” KU’s Self said Wednesday, when asked if the NCAA was pursuing a “good storyline” in shipping the three Hall of Famers’ teams to the same site.
“I looked that we were seeded probably where we deserve to be, and who you’re going to play on the 10 line,” Self said. “There will be a little storyline with Kansas and Arkansas (coached by Calipari), but the potential of a Calipari-Pitino second-round game may put Kansas in a favorable light, to be honest with you.
“We’ve been talked about enough over the years and over time. I’m kind of looking forward to having people talk about others and maybe we can kind of sneak up on somebody.”
Self’s Jayhawks (21-12) open the tourney against Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks (20-13) at 6:10 p.m. Central Time on Thursday. Pitino’s St. John’s Red Storm will take on Omaha after the KU-Arkansas game.
Self, who has a 7-6 record against fellow Hall of Famer Calipari in head-to-head coaching matchups, is 1-1 versus Calipari in NCAA championship games. KU beat Calipari’s Memphis Tigers for the 2008 title and lost to Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats in the 2012 title game.
“I have been so locked into what I have to do for this group that I haven’t,” Calipari said Wednesday when asked if he’s reflected recently on his past games against Self. “I predicted to my team in practice, ‘Here’s what they (tourney committee members) are going to do to us..’ Should I say it that way? The team is like, ‘How?’
‘Because I’ve done this,’ Calipari continued. “Playing someone I have respect for in this is hard. Both of us are trying to beat each other’s brains in. Then you feel bad and then you move on thinking about the next game.”
Calipari then talked about this year’s KU squad and how his Hogs stack up.
“They’re good,” Calipari said of the Jayhawks. “They’re big. They struggled some, so have we, but he’s a great coach, has built terrific programs and cultures that win. So it will be a hard game for us, a really hard game.”
If KU is to defeat former KU assistant coach Calipari’s Razorbacks, the Jayhawks certainly will have to play better than they did in an 85-69 exhibition-game loss on Oct. 25 in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
“They didn’t have (Hunter) Dickinson. We didn’t have Jonas (Aidou),” Calipari noted about that previous pairing. “We were centered around Boogie (Fland, who is back from a hand injury that kept him out the past several weeks). They were still trying to figure out stuff.”
KU was also without Rylan Griffen and Shakeel Moore that day. Griffen is healthy for Thursday’s game, while Moore (foot) is questionable.
“I’m glad they were doing it. It was a full sellout. We made money for charity, but it has no bearing on this game.” Calipari said of the exhibition.
Of KU, Calipari said: “Their two big guys are really as good as it gets in college basketball. One (Dickinson) is the leader scorer of any player (currently active) in college basketball. KJ (Adams) just does stuff. He can do this and do this and he can do this. Their guards understand what they’re supposed to do and how they play.
“I know they struggled some, so have we. I also know Bill will get his team right and they’re going to come into this game and play their best. My hope is we’re who we are and we can play our best. It’s the time of year you’re playing. It’ll be a hard game.”
Self said the Jayhawks were “dominated in the exhibition. Hunter didn’t play. Rylan didn’t play. Shak didn’t play. If I’m not mistaken, Aidoo didn’t play for them. Nelly (Johnell Davis) was not quite healthy yet, even though he played.
“Athletically they were much more physical and faster, especially at the guard spots. Granted, I watched them quite a bit through the year and watched a lot here of late, but it seems like, to me, the emergence of (Trevon) Brazile and (Billy) Richmond to me, has keyed everything. D.J. (Wagner) is playing a high level, the other guys are playing at the level they were expected to play, too, in my opinion. But those two have taken off since we played the exhibition, and Boogie was probably the best player in that exhibition game. So getting him back (after missing the past several weeks) I’m sure will be a bonus for them. They present a lot of challenges because they’re athletic and they’re shooting the ball more consistently now and they’ve shown that when they’re good, they’re as good as anybody.”
Asked about previous meetings against Calipari-coached teams, Self said: “I can reflect back and say, ‘Out of bounds under, short clock, 30 seconds left, down 3 and John ran this,” Self said. “I can remember those things. We are all kind of creatures of habit, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he wouldn’t try to do something similar or whatever, but I don’t really see it as coach versus coach. I see it as team versus team.
“I do know there are some things that they did in that exhibition game we would like to slow down and take away and hopefully it benefited us by getting our butts beat — kicked by them in that exhibition game that helped us prepare for this game.”
KU senior Hunter Dickinson was asked by The Star if KU would be trying to avenge the exhibition-game loss.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a rematch of the scrimmage because so many things have changed since then,” he said. “I feel they’ve gotten better. We’ve gotten better. They’ve probably changed some stuff. We’ve probably changed some stuff. I think it’s two totally different teams playing, but it’ll be fun for us to see how much we’ve grown and how much they’ve grown.”
As far as currently injured players, Arkansas junior forward Adou Thiero will not play in Thursday’s game, Calipari said. KU’s Shakeel Moore took part in a 30-minute workout at Amica Mutual Pavilion but remains questionable for action against Arkansas.
