LIKE IT IS : One year later, Self’s prophecy bears its fruit
Posted on Wednesday, April 9, 2008
SAN ANTONIO — It was a year ago at 3 a. m. on the day of the NCAA championship game in Atlanta.
Sitting near the front door of the Hyatt Regency was Kansas ’ Bill Self, Texas A&M’s Billy Gillispie (soon to be of Kentucky ) and Tim Brando of CBS and radio fame.
Florida was on the verge of securing its second consecutive national championship, but the most-talked-about coach was Gillispie.
Gillispie, The Fixer.
He had turned Texas-El Paso and Texas A&M into NCAA Tournament teams, and Arkansas, which had once been a dream job to him (when he was an assistant to Self at Illinois ), had been trying to reach him for weeks.
Kentucky first went after Florida Coach Billy Donovan when Tubby Smith left for Minnesota, but Donovan was already negotiating with the Orlando Magic, where he stayed a few days before high-tailing it back to Gainesville
They wanted to talk to Texas’ Rick Barnes, but he wasn’t doing anything until after Kevin Durant’s honors had stopped, so the Wildcats brass turned their attention to Gillispie.
By the wee hours of that Monday morning, Arkansas had a coach, Dana Altman, and Gillispie was all but signed, sealed and delivered to the Bluegrass State.
This was just a friendly conversation between three buddies when a reporter dropped by.
Gillispie first apologized for not returning calls, but Self was the focus.
He, too, always said Arkansas was a great job. One of the best in the country.
Yet, he had not given much more than the time of day to then-Athletic Director Frank Broyles.
Self looked the reporter in the eye and said: “I’ve got one of the best jobs in America. I’ve got a really good team coming back, maybe a Final Four team, maybe even a championship team.”
Self was making, by his admission, $ 1. 9 million per year, and that buys a lot of airline tickets for his wife to fly to Tulsa to see her parents.
This season, it didn’t take long for the Jayhawks to make some noise, winning their first 20 before dropping a road game to Kansas State 84-75, their worst loss of the season. The other two were by three at Texas and one at Oklahoma State.
But when Kansas beat Texas 84-74 for the Big 12 title, it looked like the Jayhawks had peaked.
Oh sure, they got by No. 16 seed Portland State 85-61 and No. 8 seed UNLV by 19, but it seemed much closer. Villanova, a 12 seed, went down 72-57, and there were strong whispers among the national media that Kansas was not playing as well as it had.
When the Jayhawks literally survived No. 10 seed Davidson, 59-57, it was believed they would be watching Monday night’s game from Lawrence.
All the dynamics were in place for Kansas to fall against North Carolina. There were talks of Self leaving for Oklahoma State, the conflict of Self taking on Roy Williams, the former Kansas coach who a week before taking the job at North Carolina said on national TV he didn’t give a “s ***” about North Carolina.
Self did a masterful job at putting aside any and all personal issues. He and Williams talked on the phone before the game and cleared the air.
Kansas then went out and jumped on the No. 1-seeded Tar Heels like they were Winthrop. North Carolina made a run in the second half, cutting Kansas’ lead to four before Self took a timeout and ordered his Jayhawks to turn the heat up on defense.
They did, and won 84-66.
Monday night’s game was a thriller, one for the ages. It came at the end of an NCAA Tournament in which 42 of 62 games were decided by 10 points or more. This one went to overtime after Memphis missed free throws down the stretch and Kansas made heroic shots, including a three to send it to overtime at the buzzer.
The score was tied eight times and the lead changed hands nine.
More than likely, at 3 a. m. Monday, Bill Self and the Jayhawks were still celebrating. Billy Gillispie was probably nearby. But the reporter, who understood a year ago the Kansas head coach thought he had a special team coming back, was sound asleep.
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