Ken Davis

Kansas coach Bill Self assured the college basketball world Monday that nothing could possibly ruin his first appearance in the Final Four. It had been suggested that the tradeoff for his greatest career achievement would be five consecutive days of answering questions about North Carolina coach Roy Williams.

Williams is not only the opposing coach in Saturday’s national semifinal game, he’s also Self’s predecessor at Kansas.

Lucky Bill.

“Oh, I’ll deal with anything getting there,” Self said during a conference call. “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.”

Forget the bright light. All it took Tuesday was for the sun to come up and suddenly Self had another issue. By midday there were media reports that Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton would resign under pressure. Soon after that, Self got a phone call from someone warning him not to be blindsided by the news. Immediately after that, Self was walking into the office of Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins to set off another warning flare.

Oklahoma State is not only a Big 12 Conference neighbor to Kansas, it also happens to be Self’s alma mater. Self played basketball for the Cowboys and spent seven years in Stillwater as an assistant to Eddie Sutton, Sean’s father. His wife, Cindy, was the head cheerleader there. Self loves the place and there have been rumors for months that Sutton was on his way out and a prominent — and very wealthy — OSU booster would love to lure Self back home.

Lucky Bill — and not so lucky Bill.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Didn’t Self get the job at Kansas after Williams returned to his alma mater? Didn’t Williams leave Lawrence right after losing the 2003 national championship game to Syracuse?

Tuesday may have been April Fool’s Day, but for Kansas fans it seemed more like Groundhog Day. We’re talking the movie, not the day. If you support the Jayhawks, you may feel like Bill Murray in that classic film. You keep waking up at the Final Four with some other school trying to steal your coach away.

When Self showed up for a previously scheduled press conference in Lawrence Tuesday afternoon, he wasn’t sure that Sutton was out. When a reporter told Self the stories had been confirmed and Oklahoma State was scheduling a news conference, Self said he felt bad for Sutton.

Then he got to the point.

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“I do care deeply about my alma mater,” Self said. “I spent 11 years of my life at OSU. But nobody from there has contacted me and if they did I would strongly recommend that they move in a different direction.”

Somebody then asked Self if he expects to be contacted.

“I don’t want to be presumptuous, but it could happen,” Self said. “But I would be telling them right now that they shouldn’t, based on my situation here and how much I like the University of Kansas.”

Self firmly stated that the Oklahoma State situation won’t be a distraction as the Jayhawks prepare for the Final Four. He said he would talk to the Kansas players and explain everything.

“I guess there’s a concern,” he said. “I’m sure it will draw attention. But it won’t be a distraction with me, not in the least. And it won’t be with our players.”

Kansas fans could see Self’s lips moving but all they could hear was Bonnie Bernstein interviewing Williams on CBS right after that championship game loss in New Orleans. She asked him about the job rumors and Ol’ Roy said, “I don’t give a [bleep] about North Carolina.”

Clearly, that had been a distraction. Up until that moment, there were thousands of people in Kansas who truly believed Williams had never uttered a curse word. That was their first shock. The second one came a few days later when Ol’ Roy announced he was heading home to Chapel Hill.

And there you have the tension built into Saturday’s national semifinal — if we ever get to that point. The timing of all this is terrible. You’ve got to feel sorry for Self because none of this is his fault.

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