SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THE BASEBALL GAME YESTERDAY WAS CANCELED BECAUSE OF BAD WEATHER, DOUBLEHEADER STARTS TODAY AT NOON
WWW.KANSAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2008
MEN'S BASKETBALL
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Caleb Sommerville/KANSAN
Coach Bill Self answers questions from the press after the pep rally Tuesday. Monday's victory was Self's first NCAA National Championship title.
Cowboys are in the past
Rumors about leaving for Oklahoma don't worry Self
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
SAN ANTONIO - The call came at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, 45 minutes after Bill Self fell asleep.
The voice on the other end was none other than President George W. Bush. He talked to Self about the championship and invited the team to visit the White House sometime in the next month.
Bill Self
"He was great," Self said.
Unfortunately for Self, Bush was about the only person wanting to discuss Monday nights victory against Memphis. An hour after the conversation with the president, Self got grilled with questions about the Oklahoma State coaching vacancy and the rumored money being offered from booster T.
"I still to this day don't see myself as a viable candidate for this position," Self said. "And that's if they even call."
"I still to this day don't see myself as a viable candidate for this position. And that's if they even call."
Boone Pickens. Just as he has several times in the past week, Self said he hadn't been contacted about the job.
BILL SELF Men's Basketball Coach
The Tulsa World reported that with Pickens' money Oklahoma State was prepared to offer a $6 million signing bonus to Self and a contract that would pay him $3.5 million a year.
"If they called, I would answer the phone," Self said. "I
certainly wouldn't answer the phone unless Kansas knew what was going on."
In the next few days, Self plans to
meet with Athletic Director Lew Perkins to discuss his contract, which pays him $1.375 million per year for the next three
years. A meeting with Perkins after the season has been the plan since the start of the year.
With a national championship on his resume and an ongoing courtship from a rich suitor, you'd have to think Self would have all the leverage in the world in those negotiations. He doesn't see it like that. Self just hopes sion.
changes ahead
If Self stays, the team is still unlikely to be whole next season. Five seniors will be gone for sure, and it's likely that three underclassmen could leave early for the NBA draft: Juniors Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush and sophomore Darrell Arthur.
Yahoo Sports already reported that two sources close to Rush said he already decided he was going pro. There haven't been any announcements about Arthur or Chalmers.
"If that happens then that happens," Self said about players leaving early. "I want to do what's best for the families. We have a couple guys, maybe three that have an opportunity to go do something."
like that. Self just hopes for an extension.
Rush is projected to go anywhere from the middle of the first round to the early second round. Arthur could go as high as the late lottery or as low as the late first round. Chalmers has been projected as a late first round pick, but his stock is almost certain to rise after being named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four.
When he played at Oklahoma State in the early '80s and worked as an assistant for seven years, Self wondered what it would be like to coach his alma mater. Those dreams were in the past though. Self said he hasn't thought about the Cowboys for a long time.
Mark Dent
"I have the best job," Self said. "I have tradition, and I love the people I work with. My family is happy. I'm not evaluating anything else."
Especially now. Self has thought about the NBA in the past, in addition to Oklahoma State, but not anymore. Three events happened this year that he said strengthened his ties to Kansas - the 110 year reunion in February, Senior Night with his first senior class at any of his coaching stops and, of course, the national championship.
"I have the best job.I have tradition, and I love the people I work with.My family is happy. I'm not evaluating anything else."
BILL SELF Men's Basketball Coach
He's going to enjoy celebrating that accomplishment, regardless of the all the talk about Oklahoma State.
"It's not hanging over my head," Self said. "It hasn't been a distraction in the least and I'm not going to allow it to worry me."
-Edited by Russell Davies
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Memphis' Pierre Niles sits on the bench as the celebration begins for Kansas at the conclusion of the championship game at the NCAA college basketball Final Four Monday in San Antonio. Kansas defeated Memphis in 75-68 in overtime to claim the championship.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"They had the will to win tonight. And, you know, they beat us," Douglas-Roberts, who lead Memphis with 22 points said.
BY RUSTIN DODD
dodd@kansan.com
Memphis left to wonder what could have been
Before the dust had settled, before the national champions made their way back to a throng of thousands at Memorial Stadium, Memphis' Chris Douglas-Roberts sat at a microphone and tried reflect on how his Tiger team had squandered a nine-point lead with 2:12 remaining.
Two days after Kansas won its third national championship, the celebration rages on.
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But miles away in Memphis, a city, a team and a coach will continue to wonder about what might have been.
"I thought we were national champs," Memphis coach John Calipari said after the game.
Behind the inspired play of Douglas-Roberts
and freshman Derrick Rose, Memphis had turned a 33-28 halftime deficit into a 60-51 lead.
Despite their heroes, Douglas-Roberts and Rose won't be remembered for what they did right on Monday night in San Antonio.
points and used a herky-jerky game to bewilder Kansas' Brandon Rush.
Rose, who scored three points in the first half, took over in the second half with 15 points.
Instead, the duo will ___
be left to wonder how
they managed to miss three out of four
free throws with 16 seconds remaining.
"They had the will to win tonight.And,you know,they beat us."
CHRIS DOUGLAS-ROBERTS
Memphis guard
Douglas-Roberts scored 13 first hall
JOHN CALIPARI
Memphis coach
"It wasn't in the cards. It wasn't our day. It was their day. And that's - I just say there and went, wow."
resume, while Calipari was left to wonder what if?
"I really can't explain why," Douglas-Roberts said. "I mean, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, when you play basketball, you can't describe things like that. You really can't. I missed 'em."
The fortunes of two teams, two schools, and two
Bill Self arrived in Lawrence yesterday with National Championship on his
men hedged on a Mario Chalmers' jumpshot.
1
Memphis needed one more free throw from Rose to be
His team had lost, and his second appearance in the Final Four ended bitterly.
"You know, I think everything in life happens for a reason," Calipari said.
"And I sat there and I looked up and I said, 'Lord, if he makes this, these two, we're supposed to be national champs', " Calipari said. " 'And if that's your will, I'm fine. And if he misses them and we're not, I'm fine with that, too.' That's what I said in my mind."
national champions. And as Rose stood at the line, Calipari watched.
"I'm probably not supposed to say that, religiously, but that what's it was," Calipari added. "And when he missed 'em and he made the shot and we went to overtime, I just — we did everything we were supposed to. It wasn't in the cards. It wasn't our day. It was their day. And that's — I just sat there and went, 'wow.'"
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Edited by Russell Davies