SELF ANALYSIS: CRAIG GLAZER CONSIDERS KANSAS BASKETBALL LEGACY!!!

TKC NOTE: Tonight our pal Craig Glazer writes an exceptionally thoughtful missive on KU basketball. Check it . . .

Bill Self and Kansas Basketball 
are Sports Gods

Finally, and for the first time ever, Kansas City can brag about having a long term number one franchise in sports. You guessed it, the Kansas Jayhawks Basketball Program. Bill Self’s current squad is nearly top to bottom an NBA team. There are at least three first round draft picks on his starting squad and more to come. We already knew about Andrew Wiggins, coverboy to every sports magazine known to man before the season began as the first round, number one NBA pick. Hold everything, now Kansas has a new number one, seven foot tall Center/Forward Joel Embiid. Oh yeah, Embiid has only played organized basketball for one and a half years. He is being compared to NBA hall of famers like Akeem Olajuwon.

Rather than go over the rest of the potential NBA players that Kansas has on the court and will have next year, let’s talk about Head Coach Bill Self. Self is the most popular Head Coach that any of our sports programs ever had and that includes Hank Stram and Roy Williams at their peak. How hot is Bill? He’s so popular he can step out on his wife and no one says a word about it publicly because they don’t want to besmirch his incredible record and legacy. That’s how hot he is. Self is on the verge of being the official King of all NCAA basketball coaches. He will be number one over coaches such as Michigan’s Tom Izzo, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams and even Kentucky’s John Calipari. Calipari’s Kentucky Squad that won it all by beating Kansas 2012 Jayhawks was supposed to be the number one NBA factory by now, two years later. Instead, Bill Self is the king of ‘One and Done’s’. Self has been in two National Finals over the last five years winning one in ’08. Since the mid-1980’s only the Kansas Jayhawks have won a national title that mattered here in the Kansas City area. According to Las Vegas, KU is right now a four to one favorite to win the national title this year which makes them a favorite overall to win the title already. Self will win his tenth Big 12 title in a row, which is unprecedented. Though past ‘one and done’s’ like Ben McLemore and Xavier Henry have been somewhat disappointing, Wiggins is living up to his expectations. Self has proven a youthful energy and presence that is well respected and attractive to high school seniors who want to perform in a big college program whose games appear nationally on a regular basis and want to follow that by being drafted to the NBA. Check out how many Bill Self players are currently in the NBA. Nice.

If Kansas can win it all this year, and they should, it will be official; Kansas will then be referred to as the nation’s top program above everyone else’s. Remember there are only a handful of NCAA coaches who get a shot at multiple ‘one and done’s’ every year. John Calipari was supposed to be the man, but since the 2012 season, Kentucky has been disappointing. Roy Williams is showing his age and may well be on the hot seat next season at North Carolina. Tom Izzo is one of the best field generals, especially when it comes to March Madness, but he lacks Self’s charisma and shine. No, I didn’t forget Louisville, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski will pass the torch of number one coach on to Bill Self this season.

Self may be the first NBA coach to receive a salary higher than 8 million dollars coming up. I look for Self to win one or two more national titles then head to the NBA. You can’t blame the man, by then, he will have done it all.
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