Self feels sense of relief after Davidson scare
This is madness
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It wouldn't have mattered that Self took the Jayhawks to their third Elite Eight in five seasons.
The whispers had gotten louder. Self could recruit against just about anyone, but was he a big-time X's and O's guy?
He had a pair of first-round exits on his resume in his five postseason appearances — and this year's road couldn't have been paved any smoother.
A walk-over Portland State. Then an overachieving UNLV team in the second round. Villanova, the final at-large team in the tournament and a No. 12 seed, in the Sweet 16.
Then No. 10 Davidson in the regional finals.
A Final Four is the measuring stick for those in Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk-land. The Jayhawks had been to a dozen of them, but won just twice — with the last coming 20 years ago when Danny Manning led them to the national championship.
Well, Self has finally silenced the skeptics who questioned his coaching ability with a Final Four appearance, courtesy of a down-to-the-last-shot, 59-57 victory against Davidson.
"I was nervous the whole time," Self admitted.
He finally felt a sense of relief after Davidson point guard Jason Richards missed a last-second 3-pointer that would have once again spoiled the Jayhawks' season.
"He had an elephant on his back," said Ronnie Chalmers, the team's director of basketball operations and the father of starting guard Mario Chalmers. "It weighed a ton coming in and it got heavier and heavier during the game. It probably went from one ton to two tons."
"But now he's free," the elder Chalmers added.
Barely.
Kansas certainly didn't play its best basketball of the season against Davidson and trailed by four points with less than nine minutes to go after everyone's favorite tournament star, Stephen Curry, sank a 17-foot pull-up jumper.
"He can get his shot whenever he wants," said athletic Kansas junior wing Brandon Rush, who drew the assignment of trying to contain Curry for much of the game. "I was nervous. He was killing me all night."
But the Jayhawks battled back and took a 59-53 lead with 1:15 remaining in the game. After a free throw cut the lead to five, Curry buried a 3-pointer and then the Wildcats held on defense.
Curry dribbled the ball up the court with 17 seconds left and was double-teamed at the 3-point line, forcing him to give up the ball to Richards — whose deep shot was off the mark as time expired.
"We were one possession away from going to the Final Four," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said.
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| Kansas coach Bill Self had to sweat a bit before cutting down the nets Sunday. ( Duane Burleson / Associated Press) |
And Self was one possession away from having to put a bag over his head when he went out in public.
"I was shaking," said Self's wife, Cindy, holding back tears after the game ended. "I can't believe it."
Self said he's not immune to all the criticism he's received. He has a 140-32 record in five years since arriving in Lawrence, the highest winning percentage of seven previous KU coaches.
However, after an Elite Eight appearance in his first season, the Jayhawks lost in the first round two straight years — to Bucknell and Bradley — before coming up one step short of the Final Four a year ago in a loss to UCLA.
"I think about it every day," Self admitted prior to Sunday's game against Davidson.
Throw in two more Elite Eights — one with Tulsa in 2000 and with Illinois the following season — and his wife couldn't go to the grocery store without hearing about it.
"I'm happier for her than anyone else," Self said. "It's been tough because she lives with every possession and we've been so close so many times."
Now that Self has finally gotten there, the monkey — or elephant, or whatever — can finally be lifted off his back.
"It feels good," Self said. ``But we're not done yet."
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