Posted by Kusarge February 4, 2009 at 4:29 p.m.

On Head Coach Bill Self

From Bilas' blog entry, 2/3/09:"Kansas coach Bill Self may be doing the best coaching job of his career. He does not have a single starter back from last year's title team, and has new players at almost every spot. Nevertheless, Self has made this into a Top 25 team and a contender for the Big 12 title (although I feel that Oklahoma is the best team in that league). In a year or two, Kansas will be a Top 10 team and a national championship contender."Okay, so I fudged just a bit and called what HCBS is doing this year "the best job in the nation." So, I ask you: Do you think what Self is accomplishing in Lawrence this year is NOT the best coaching job in NCAA Division I hoops?I, like most level-headed Jayhawks basketball junkies, had relatively low expectations for this year's team. However, I was feeling ever-so-slighted when (if memory serves me correctly) Kansas was picked fourth or lower in the Big XII this year.Allow me to clarify "low expectations." I didn't view this team as a National Championship contender. That said, a Big XII title was never out of the question in my mind. No doubt HCBS has used preseason Big XII polls to motivate his coaching this year and, quite possibly, his players, too.KU is rarely out of a game since Self took over the reins. At Oklahoma State is the only one that comes to mind (in his first season). That's why I'm so confident in his ability to keep this team headed pointedly towards a Big XII regular-season title. We are always in games, a la former KU head man Larry Brown's teams in the 80s.You know what? The losses against UMass and Arizona were poor, but indicative of our youth. We hadn't learned, so to speak, how to win in gritty fashion. But those lessons learned (and believe me, they were learned) proved beneficial in spades against the likes of Iowa State, Nebraska, Colorado (at home) and Baylor.And now Kansas, nearly halfway through their conference schedule, sit tied atop the rankings with the number 2 team in the nation. If luck will have it, February 23rd in Norman is going to be a helluva game.I am getting ahead of myself. What has made Self's job this year so outstanding? Perhaps this is easily relayed in comparison to his predecessor, Coach Williams. Many KU faithful still wish the 'Hawks would come out of the gate in November, storm through the non-conference schedule untouched, leaving no survivors in their wake, winning every game by 20+ points. HCBS doesn't share this philosophy. Fans will have to overcome. For him, the conference record, championships, and tournaments are where a coach and team are defined. Excelling against rival foes, elite programs, in hostile environments. Teams that need no scouting reports. Teams against which you have to "gut out" victories. Bill Self teams are built in this fashion.Here's my take: With Self as the coach, we may not win the Big XII title every year. But we will ALWAYS be in the mix. We may not be the favorite to win the National Championship every year. But - and I think this year's team is a prime example - you do not want to play a Bill Self Kansas team in the tournament. At Kansas, Self is 12-4 in March (and April). Simply put, his teams "gel," more often than not, at precisely the right time of the season.In doing this exercise, I tried to put together a list of college coaches I would want to lead my team come tournament time. I came up with three: Bill Self, Ben Howland, and Tom Izzo. All have built their respective programs from the defensive end of the floor, forward. They don't have "gimmicky" offenses, or try to run up possession numbers in games. Just straightforward, old-school (read: hard-nosed) basketball.I had doubts about Sherron being the team's leader this year. Turns out, he's been an outstanding floor general for this team's youth. It probably bodes his leadership well that he himself has a new role (more playing time, greater weight on his play) than in the previous two seasons. The Morris twins have, slowly but surely, improved over the course of the season. That much can be seen in their work on defense and rebounding. And what can you say about the effort that Self has conjured from the two Kansas boys, Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed? Truly a great inspiration to all high school athletes in the state, and a testament to what, given the right circumstances, hard work can achieve.It all flows back to, and reflects upon, Bill Self.What are your thoughts on HCBS's transformation of this young, sometimes clueless team into a top-25 caliber workhorse? Who are on your "short list" of elite college coaches in the game currently? And what do you make of my assertion that Jeff Bzdelik, not Rick Barnes or Jeff Capel, is the second best coach in the Big XII conference?