🏀 KuBuckets Archive

Bill Self can act like WUG is no big deal. He can make it look like it is just a warm-up for our upcoming 2015-16 season. He likes to talk about playing every single player and making this thing less about competition and more about team development.

He can say whatever he wants to... but... this WUG Tournament is a tryout for him to take on future coaching roles representing the USA in International ball.

We all know Coach K. Whether we like it or not, Coach K has built quite an impressive resume.... both in International ball and nationally, winning 5 NCAA National Championships since 1991. We have won 1 National Championship in that same time period. He took a university that had never won a National Championship and has gotten the job done.

How much of his success could also be related to his work as a coach representing America in International ball? I would say quite a bit.

Self has a chance to surpass K's silver medal WUG performance. That would be an excellent start to Self moving in on International ball. K has owned that monopoly far too long. I can't believe no one has challenged him getting to own American International ball for more than 2 decades.

I can see Self having a chance to coach FIBA and Olympic ball. Perhaps he will have to go around Boeheim because I know he has been assisting K on some of these.

First things first.... when will K step down completely from International ball? The guy looks tired. Looks like he hasn't had a nap since the 70s....

Rio is probably going to be Coach K's final tournament with USA Basketball. Boeheim is retiring from Syracuse a couple of years after that so he won't be involved after Rio either most likely. As big an honor as it would be to become the head coach for USA Basketball, I don't think it would be the best thing for KU basketball. There were a lot of years in which Duke struggled by Duke standards with lots of early exits and low seeds in the tournament. It took Coach K quite awhile to figure out the balance of his responsibilities. If Self were to become the new US coach, he would frequently miss the July recruiting period himself like he is this year and that does have an impact on recruiting. Personally, I'd rather see an NBA coach take over the responsibility of being the US coach.

@Texas-Hawk-10

I remember hearing K whine a lot about how he is sacrificing Duke basketball for the USA. But he won 5 National Championships since 1991. I'd like to see us do that and have our coach whine about how he hurts our team by coaching International ball.

In other interviews, K finally let it out that Duke has benefited from his coaching abroad.

@drgnslayr Only a matter of When coach K steps down. Guy isn't getting any younger. Id love to see Coach Self representing USA international ball!

@drgnslayr Coach K only has 2 Final Fours and one other Elite 8 appearance since he took over as US coach in 2005. Duke is a program like KU that measures success by what happens in March and April. Since Coach K took over as US coach in 2005, Duke and KU both have 2 Final Fours, KU has one more Elite 8, and Duke has one more 1st round exit. KU and Duke have been pretty equal when it comes to March and April success which if we consider to be disappointing, I'm sure there's plenty of Duke fans that have considered to be subpar as well (obviously not this year for Duke fans).

@Texas-Hawk-10
In all fairness those two final fours (2010 & 2015) resulted in two NCAA championships. That puts them a notch above our 2008 title.

@Texas-Hawk-10

I'm counting on Wiki here because my memory stinks... but it says he coached FIBA back in 1990.. also coached the Goodwill Games team in 1990. I kind of remember that. He coached WUG in 1987 and scored a silver medal.

@JayhawkRock78

In all fairness, if KU would have gotten the help against UK that Duke got against Wisconsin, KU would have won too.

Squatty Miller is in the run for that USA coaching position. He coached this month's U19 team to the world finals. Won it this weekend, I think.

@drgnslayr Yeah, RatFace looks considerably more tired than just your avaerage rat. Hear me @jaybate-1.0 ? I Forgive me Lord, I just couldn't resist...

3 wins away (in the final round) and Self will have succeeded where K failed... to win at WUG!

I have to admit... I want this championship in a big way!