Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self was in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to accept an award that had nothing to do with how many victories or milestones his team racked up.
Self, who is set to enter his 17th season as the Jayhawks’ head coach, was named the 2019 Kansan of th eYear by the Kansas Society of Washington D.C.
The society hosted its annual banquet Wednesday evening at the Westin Washington, D.C., City Center, and Self and his wife, Cindy, along with KU Athletic Director Jeff Long and other KU athletic department staff and officials were on hand to celebrate the honor.
No stranger to receiving individual honors, Self, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017, also has been named national coach of the year four times and Big 12 coach of the year nine times.
Self owns a 473-106 record during his time at Kansas and is 680-211 total in 26 years as a college head coach.
He joins former Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder (2007), former K-State wide receiver Jordy Nelson (2012), politician and former KU and Olympic distance runner Jim Ryun (2013), former KU point guard and current Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon (2015) and Major League Baseball player Adam LaRoche (2016) as sports figures to earn the Kansan of the Year distinction since 2007.
Others on the list include former KU chancellors Robert Hemenway and Bernadette Gray-Little, actors Eric Stonestreet and Rob Riggle and politicians Sam Brownback, Lynn Jenkins and Dennis Moore.
2021 offers flying
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The Kansas basketball program may have just completed its 2019 recruiting class with Tuesday’s commitment from Columbia, Mo., point guard Dajuan Harris, but Self and his coaching staff did not pause long to celebrate the accomplishment.
In the days since Harris’ commitment, several high-profile prospects in future classics reported receiving scholarship offers from KU.
Here’s a quick look at the list:
• Kendall Brown, 6-7, 195-pound shooting guard from Cottage Grove, Minn., ranked No. 16 overall in the 2021 class per Rivals.com.
• Zion Harmon, 5-9, 170-pound point guard from Phoenix, ranked No. 20 overall in the 2021 class per Rivals.
• Javonte Brown, 6-11, 220-pound center from Baltimore, ranked No. 46 overall in the 2021 class.
Diallo headed to Phoenix
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Former KU forward Cheick Diallo, who played one season at KU in 2015-16 and missed the early portion of that season while waiting on academic clearance from the NCAA, has agreed to a free agent deal with the Phoenix Suns, according to ESPN’s NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski.
According to Wojnarowski’s report, Diallo, who played for the New Orleans Pelicans during his first three seasons in the league, agreed to a two-year deal with the Suns, who also have former Jayhawk Kelly Oubre on the roster. Phoenix just traded another former Jayhawk, lottery pick Josh Jackson, to Memphis.
With the Pelicans, Diallo averaged 5.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 133 appearances.
