Tom Keegan: One more win, and Bill’s in a class by himself (Column)

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Every loser on the planet can find hope that things will change by taking inspiration from the career arc of a man who is one victory away from ranking as undisputed king of active college basketball coaches, replacing retiring Mike Krzyzewski.

Bill Self was a loser once. In 18 consecutive games.

As head coach of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Self lost the last 15 games of his first season (1993-94) and the first three of his second, before defeating Appalachian State to get off the schneid.

Now look at him. Self coached Kansas to the Elite Eight for the ninth time, is in his fourth Final Four and will try to win his second national title in his third try Monday night in New Orleans.

I was fortunate enough to cover 13 of his teams, including three that made it to the Final Four and two that played in the title game, before taking a one-way flight out of town shortly after being informed of an impending 33% pay cut.

I’m not guilty of bias in believing that Self, whose employers were smart enough to give him a lifetime contract, will rank at the top of college basketball coaches if the Jayhawks prevail. The numbers will scream it.

At the moment, Villanova’s Jay Wright and Iona’s Rick Pitino are the only Division I college basketball coaches with multiple titles. The NCAA doesn’t technically give Pitino credit for the one he won in 2013, but we all saw Louisville win it on TV, so count it.

Scandal during Pitino’s reign in Derby City made him radioactive for a while, which sent him to Greece to coach before Iona gave him a lifeline back into the game. A phenomenal basketball coach, Pitino’s not on the main stage anymore, so he doesn’t enter this discussion.

So that leaves Self, if his Jayhawks cut down the nets Monday, and Wright as the lone contestants.

Self’s second title in 19 years at Kansas would tie him with Wright, who has coached 21 years at Villanova.

Both men have reached four Final Fours. The loudest tiebreaker: Self has reached the Elite Eight a remarkable nine times, Wright five times.

Self has an .817 winning percentage in all games at Kansas, including a .720 mark in NCAA Tournament games. Wright has a .726 overall winning percentage at ’Nova, a .674 mark in the tournament.

If Ochai Agbaji cools off and fires blanks from long distance and North Carolina’s Armando Bacot doesn’t let David McCormick gain the sort of inside position he had against a shorter Villanova squad and guards R.J. Davis and Caleb Love go off for the Tar Heels, Self won’t get his second title, KU its fourth. That won’t make Self any less of a coach, but tallying national titles is how we keep track. Everything after that is a tiebreaker.

If Kansas loses, then Wright inherits the mantle from Coach K. Surely, broadcasters won’t talk about him as much as they did Krzyzewski in games in which he wasn’t coaching, so that at least will be consolation for KU fans hungry for another title. Self understands the hunger.

When a reporter in New Orleans said that it had been “a long time” since KU won a national title (2008), Self didn’t grow defensive.

“Well, it has been,” Self said. “We’ve had some really terrific seasons and some great teams that came up short. And I do think that when you have as many good teams as we’ve had — at most places winning one national championship would be quite an accomplishment — I think as many good teams as we’ve had, one’s not enough.”

Here’s what nobody ever points out, though, when saying that Self has won “just one” national title: In his first three Final Fours, he never had the most talented roster, even when winning it all in 2008.

Dialing up basketball-reference.com for some research, I decided to compile the number of NBA points scored by players on the rosters of the Final Four teams from the first three times Self’s teams participated. Only once (Loyola in 2018) did Self not have the team that went on to score the least NBA points. (All figures appearing here are through Saturday’s NBA games.)

2008: 1. UCLA 50,718; 2. North Carolina 23,140; 3. Memphis 14,145; 4. Kansas 13,673.

2012: 1. Kentucky 22,694; 2. Louisville 4,577; 3. Ohio State 2,896; 4. Kansas 2,368.

2018: 1. Villanova 10,594; 2. Michigan 6,738; 3. Kansas 4,613; 4. Loyola 0.

It’s not about NBA prospects. It’s about winning as college teammates so that classmates and alumni can go ballistic.

A wild mass of crimson-and-blue-clad bodies will cram Mass Street and Bourbon Street if the Jayhawks win their fourth tourney title 70 years after the first. It also would deny Carolina the chance to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of the first title game played in New Orleans, when the Tar Heels won on a shot taken by a freshman, a shot that completed the shooter’s transformation from Mike, which he went by in high school, to Michael, which Jordan became known as after hitting that shot against Georgetown in his first dance.

Speaking of Jordan, he played his first round of golf as a junior at North Carolina, with sophomore Davis Love III, who would go on to win 21 events on the PGA tour, including one major (1997 PGA Championship). You can bet Jordan’s golf buddy likes the Tar Heels’ starting backcourt of Davis and Love, both McDonald’s All-Americans. Who wouldn’t? It’s a terrific tandem. Bacot played in the hamburger all-star game as well and he has 43 rebounds combined in his past two games. McCormack is KU’s lone McDonald’s All-American.

See the NBA points totals listed above before reading much into McDonald’s All-American tallies.

The winning team likely will be the one that is most connected, plays the hardest and gets hot shooting. Both have done a great job of that in the tournament or they wouldn’t be playing for the national title.

Which one of Roy Williams’ former teams will win?

The smartest and easily the funniest sports voice on television, Charles Barkley, is convinced Kansas will win the game, which should make everyone who favors a darker shade of blue than powder feel a little more at ease.

— Tom Keegan, who wrote columns on the Jayhawks and lived in Lawrence for 13 years, and wife Angie live in Michigan City, Indiana. Tom is sports editor of the Chesterton Tribune in Chesterton, Indiana.

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