Elite Eight roadblock an issue

By Tom Keegan     Mar 30, 2011

Nick Krug
Kansas head coach pats senior guard Tyrel Reed on the as the Jayhawks leave the court after falling to Virginia Commonwealth on Sunday, March 27, 2011 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Acknowledging a problem brings a person halfway to solving it. Sometimes, it’s the more difficult half. Bill Self isn’t in denial and volunteered that he has an issue. He can clean a pool table with the best of them, but has trouble putting the 8-ball in the corner pocket.

During his season-wrap news conference Tuesday, Self didn’t group the Virginia Commonwealth loss with the other so-called “mid-major” early-round flameouts against Bucknell, Bradley and Northern Iowa. The issue, for him, is more one of the Elite Eight, regardless of the opponent.

“I think maybe we’ve just got to keep evaluating on what we’ve done,” Self said. “You know what’s amazing to me?”

No. What?

“We’re 6-1 in Sweet 16 games and 1-5 in Elite Eight games,” Self said, including one loss at Tulsa and another at Illinois. “That’s the kind of stuff that I need to look at. It’s not the mid-major name. It’s what happened in that 40 hours to give us a better chance in that one game. When we have plenty of days to prepare, that hasn’t been an issue.”

He’ll be looking at more than X’s and O’s during his Self-evaluation.

“What do we do? Are we too film-intensive? Do we get enough rest? That to me is what needs to be evaluated,” Self said. “This was the loosest that we’ve ever been going into a game. Even our coaches said, if you’re tight, nobody knows it. So that doesn’t guarantee anything anyway.”

Self didn’t go so far as to say he would hire a body-language expert to study tapes of regular-season games, Sweet 16 games and Elite Eight games to see if there are any tells from players and himself (too wound up?), but why not do it? Why not try everything?

“This is so minor,” Self said, explaining how thoroughly he’s examining the possible source of the pattern. “Here’s what we’re thinking about: We’re thinking about things that don’t have anything to do with the game. Maybe we don’t let them watch TV. Maybe we take them to the movies. Maybe we do this. Maybe we do that. You can start breaking everything down when things don’t go well. I’m sure (Bill) Belichick is doing the same thing after the Patriots lost early after dominating the league.”

A phone call to Michigan State coach Tom Izzo might prove enlightening. Izzo is 6-1 in the Elite Eight, and Self and Izzo seem to have a great deal of mutual respect.

A look at Self’s Elite Eight history, with the betting lines supplied by statsheet.com: In 2000, No. 7 seed Tulsa was favored by three points against North Carolina, which advanced with a 59-55 victory. In 2001, top-seeded Illinois was a 1.5-point underdog and lost to No. 2 seed Arizona, 87-81. In 2004, KU was favored by five points and lost in overtime to Georgia Tech, 79-71. In ’07, Kansas was a two-point favorite and lost to UCLA, 68-55. Favored by nine in ’08, the Jayhawks survived Davidson, 59-57. Sunday, VCU was an 11-point underdog and won, 71-61.

As is the case with all great coaches, Self has a mile-long stubborn streak. He put it aside for a Self-examination of how he can get around his Elite Eight roadblock. He’ll figure it out.

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