Close win, I'll take it. I'mnot sure exactly what that play was that Self drew up on the last offensive possession.
Also after 4 years of belitling the guy, I have to give credit. Sasha Kaun was the MVP for that game. He busted his ass, got tough rebounds and played tougher than anyone else on the floor. Good game you Russkie bastard!
Also , my other team rolled a Texas team that was supposed to roll them. They be lookin' pretty good. Derrick Rose PWNED Augustine all game.
I think this game might warrant photos of our team.
ReplyDeletekusports.com has some pretty good ones.
You're absolutely right about Kaun, JSJ (even spelling his name right!). 6-6 from the field, 6 rebounds, 13 points, 1 block, no turnovers is just 20 minutes--hell of a line.
Wondering about the crowd in Seattle? Of course you are. Check out my blog . . .
Anyway, I guess my point is HELL YEAH! HELL F**KING YEAH!
That game was way too close! I'm hoping it was just nerves. Kaun was great though. The pressure had to be unbelievable. There was simply no way Self could lose that game. The gorilla is finally off his back and I think that means they'll be more focused and relaxed on Saturday. Can you believe we are finally going to get a UNC match up? Downtown was absolutely insane last night. It was a lot crazier than the last time we got to the final four. I think a big part of it was that everyone knew we would be playing UNC. All the bars had stacks of plastic cups at the door. By the end of the night people were very wasted but the mood stayed happy -- probably because the cops just sat back and watched. They actually barricaded Mass between 10th and 11th, and the mob was pretty much centered there. Just before midnight the crowd started chanting "fieldhouse!" and left to meet the team. It smelled like beer and piss everywhere and the street was covered with plastic cups -- good times! I can't imagine what it will be like if we beat UNC. That's my on the street report. Anyone planning a trip back for Saturday?
ReplyDeleteIt's still too bad that this team hasn't outgrown the propensity for turnovers and offensive droughts. However ...
ReplyDeleteWE'RE IN THE FINAL FOUR! Sh*t, yeah!
Whew, OK. That felt good.
How fitting that Self finally gets the "gorilla" off his back through defense. What a brilliant job our guards did on Curry in the second half.
And let's not be too apologetic about barely beating Davidson; that's a good f-ing team. They lost narrowly early in the year to UNC, Duke and UCLA; then proceeded to win 25 in a row leading up to yesterday, including wins over the Big East and Big Ten champions. Curry was putting up historic numbers. And the whole world outside of Kansas was rooting for Davidson over Goliath (seemingly the refs, too).
History was not in our favor, once Memphis finished off Texas. Our guys were nervous, Self was nervous, and we had every reason to lose that game. But we didn't.
Maybe we'll do a photo-post later in the week, YHD. I am enjoying the mascot thing, Scott.
Thanks for the report from Lawrence, Aaron. Damn, I wish I could be there...
Let's give some X's and O's credit to Bill Self.
ReplyDeleteOn the last play he put in a 4 guard lineup, which Davidson didn't read. So the wrong guy set a pick at the top of the key, leaving multiple guards to cover Curry.
Checkmate!
"Fatigue was definitely a factor," Curry said. "That four-guard rotation they had really took a toll."
"Rush definitely would have disrupted his shot and might even have blocked it.
"He's so long, he'd been bothering my shot all game," Curry said. "In the Southern Conference, I get that shot off."
Stewart Mandel, CNNSI:
ReplyDelete"Top-seeded Kansas ... did not come to Detroit to play a bit part in someone else's happy ending...
"'We wanted to spoil the whole party,' proclaimed Jayhawks wingman Brandon Rush."
Mike Lopresti, USA Today:
"You want to see the most liberated coach in town?
"Kansas' Bill Self will be there, having finally slipped past the bouncers in the regional, the latest brute named Davidson...
"Maybe this will explain his relief: The last Kansas coach who did not get a team to the Final Four was William O. Hamilton. He left the job in 1919."
Jay Bilas:
"I cannot recall a Final Four with this kind of power and this kind of feel. We always say that any team can win, and we can make a great case for any one of the four teams. Each team has been considered the best team in the country by someone this season. Pretty impressive, and pretty cool."
Luke Winn, CNNSI:
"Kaun will have to deliver another MVP-type performance as a muscle guy against Hansbrough. Does Sasha have it in him?"
Bob Lutz, Wichita Eagle:
"It's time to let bygones be bygones. For Kansas fans, and I mean every one of them, to throw down their arms (weapons) and throw open their arms (attached to their shoulders) and embrace Roy Williams for the 15 years he coached basketball at KU."
Bad Keegan Quote, Elite 8 Edition:
"[The upset] didn't happen, which left Davidson's players and coaches wearing the boxing gloves, punching their mirrors, the way it always happens when such a big victory falls just short."
Great. OSU has fired Sean Sutton, and they want to throw $40 million or something at Self.
ReplyDeleteI'm not real worried about him leaving, but can we get to the Final Four once without having our coach hounded by his alma mater?
Whenever Self does eventually leave or retire, let's hire Turgeon so he can't be seduced by his alma mater during Final Four week.
That is ridiculous. Seems pretty shameless of OSU to let this come out right now, as opposed to, say, a week from now.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, at least this might mean that people will talk some about our current coach, and stop talking about our former coach.
That Hamilton stat is pretty remarkable. And that Keegan quote is pretty silly, even for him.
You may already have seen it, but Bilas is sticking with us as his pick . . .
The ironies are thick here. We're in the Final 4 for the first time since Roy's controversial departure -- playing Roy, no less, which reignites the debate over that departure. Self defends Roy against the haters, for his having done exactly what he himself will now be pressured to do...
ReplyDeleteMy brain hurts...
Anyway, I think Bilas has something there: "Kansas with the cuffs off." It should be liberating for our guys to play in a freewheeling Roy-type game after the Davidson slugfest. As long as we box out and play transition defense, I like our chances.
So Katz says "more than likely" Self will not go.
ReplyDeleteAnd your friend Tom Keegan concurs, dgl:
Self is not a candidate because he's not interested in the job.
He has no evidence that I see, but I'm inclined to believe it. He also rightly says that it's OSU's responsibility to quickly either name a coach or at least make it clear that Self is not a target . . .
Nice call on the "cuffs off" line, Deron. I hope we do get to see that kind of game. I expect that some will say we need to slow UNC down in order to win, but I'm with Deron: our chances in an fast game look pretty good to me. In addition to transition D and rebounding, I would just add ball-handling. If our guards can keep their cool and not give up the ball, we should do all right.
Sorry, can't resist one more on it:
ReplyDeleteBill Self, from kusports.com:
"If it has been done, I feel bad for Sean, because I feel his team got better over the course of the year. I do care deeply about my alma mater. Spent 11 years of my life at OSU. But nobody from there has contacted me, and if they did, I would strongly reccommend they move in another direction."
I'm sure the combination of money and the emotional ties would make it tempting, but it does seem unlikely.
ReplyDeleteI'd be more worried if it wasn't in conference. I can't think of any coach who's ever moved to a conference rival, alma mater or not -- it would just be too awkward.
They should hire Pat Knight.
ReplyDeletePat Knight: ouch.
ReplyDeleteIf you want video, ESPN has it.
From the New York Times:
ReplyDeleteNot the Same Old Story From Self
By Pete Thamel
Tags: basketball, bill self, Kansas, North Carolina
Quick Bill Self story. This July in Akron at the LeBron James Skills Academy (the summer event formerly known as Nike Camp), a few thirsty writers headed over to a generic chain restaurant for a cold beer after a long day of watching basketball.
There was a place — could have been TGI Friday’s, could have been Applebee’s, definitely had fried mozzarella on the menu — right across the street from the hotel. We walked in and there was Bill Self, sitting amid the neon-drenched splendor of Middle America. No assistant coaches around. No cronies. No BlackBerry at his fingertips. Just Self and some locals at a generic American bar and grill.
He had been there about 10 minutes, and he already knew the names and life stories of all the people around him. (None of the people had any idea that Self was the coach at Kansas, which he really enjoyed.) He introduced all of us writers to every patron by name and life story. “They’re students at Indiana State,” and “his wife is about to go into labor (that’s not a joke)” and the bartender “is trying to break into the M.M.A. scene.”
You couldn’t paint a better scene to sum up Bill Self — a fairly regular guy as millionaire coaches go who genuinely likes people. (When the guy whose wife was about to go into labor told us that LeBron James lived around the corner, Self couldn’t resist checking out his digs the next day on the way to the gym.)
So as the Roy Williams playing Kansas storyline get batted around this week, there isn’t a better person to deflect it than Self.
“I’ll deal with anything getting there,” Self said of his first trip to the Final Four. “So you could put me answering questions in a dark room with the bright light shining on me for eight hours a day and I’d still love every second of it. But there will be a lot of Roy questions, obviously. And I said this, usually when a coach leaves and you leave a high-level place to go to a high-level place, you know, five years is a pretty long time that the teams hadn’t matched up or that Kansas and Illinois hasn’t matched up. So we probably dodged some bullets.”
Very thorough Roy article here.
ReplyDelete