Well, working at a Wichita hospital this week, I happened to overhear a 50-something respiratory tech mention to someone how he was a "big Kentucky fan", and doubting he was talking college ftball, I assumed basketball. So a couple of hours later, I saw him again, and asked him about it, and sure enough he is a dyed-in-the-wool BigBlue KY fan. He has liked them since Pitino was there. This guy is a Wichitan, a Kansan, and did not attend KY, nor ever live there.
He saw me with the long sleeve royal blue T-shirt under my scrub-top, and asked if I was a KY fan, as he saw a license plate with "UK" logo out in the parking lot. I told him I went to KU for professional school, so he asked me what I thought about "KU and Lawrence". Since I did not attend undergrad in Lawrence, I had to tell him that I wasn't sure what he meant...so he tells me the usual Wichita line about "snob hill", etc. That's all par for the course around Wichita, and since I grew up in Wichita, I've heard that phrase since the 80's. I did tell him that the KU campus is beautiful in Lawrence, and that originally before I chose my career field, I was either going to go to WichitaSt or KU for aerospace engr, and likely would have picked WSU due to Wichita "air capital" industry/obvious connections, but who knows now...I told him I cannot truthfully have any "feel" for snobbiness or not at KU main campus.
Now, what he said that is kubuckets-discussion-worthy is that he says he "lost all respect for Bill Self after he saw 2 different KU players do jock punches, and Self just watched the monitor, and didn't bench the players! (in each separate case)"
So, I assumed the first instance was Elijah's "stiff-fisted screen" on Mitch McGary in the E8. He said "yes". Play was stopped, EJ got a Flagrant1 by the refs. I told him Self is a gamesman in many ways: he isn't going to sit his lead guard, especially that season when we didn't have a 2nd lead guard ready. In a March Madness game, Self isn't going to cut his own hand off like that. ALSO, I asked what he thought of Tom Izzo (he respects him), so I mentioned that everybody considers Big10 ball to be bruiser-ball, and he agreed, saying that those Big10 refs allow such play. I reminded him that Self coached against Izzo in the Big10 for 3 yrs at Illinois, so knows firsthand the "toughness" and "not soft" a team needs to be to play a Big10 game. I told him Mitch McGary's reaction was mostly "theatrical", as I cannot imagine a Big10 bigman not wearing a cup. Additionally, I told him Self likely told his team pregame "what kind of toughness" Big10 teams play with, and KU had been beat 3 times straight by Izzo prior to our 4th mtg, which KU won last year in the Champions Classic. Finally, I told him, as KU fans we had never seen Elijah Johnson get physical like that in his entire 4yrs at KU. Personally, my take on the whole incident is EJ took Self's pregame talk about "toughness", and tried to do something very similar to 180lb Kevin Young's "stiff screen" on Marcus Smart, that put Smart on his ass, and he really was a non-factor the rest of that ku-osu game. I truly think that was the plan. Self may even have said, set some stiff screens, even if you foul once, just to set the tone/make em think. I see that as within the realm of "Bill Self", and personally, I love that toughness. Maybe I'm not condoning EJ's execution of that concept, but I don't want us to be shrinking violets, especially to a Big10 team. I loved when we out-toughed UNC in the 08 F4. That is classic Self against classic Roy. Loved Roy at KU, but give me Self anyday--and maybe, for me the most guttural reason is that Self's philosophies jibe totally with my own basketball beliefs and playstyle. And he delivered a NC by his methods.
The second example my new KY friend gave was in the NC game, when Thomas Robinson "absolutely wound up and gave a roundhouse uppercut to a guy's crotch" in the '12 NC game vs. KY. Honestly, folks, I don't remember that play! I don't recall any discussion about it, the refs evidently didn't call anything. He states that there was an immediate timeout, and Self was looking up at the monitor replay, but "didn't yank Thomas Robinson". Man, as much as we have discussed EJ, and the Marcus Morris, does anyone remember such an act of violence from Thomas Robinson???? I recall as a soph, when he got an elbow in the throat at the bottom of a dogpile (by that ponytail 6'6 Gutierrez punk of California), and simply got up and walked away with both hands on top of his head. I reminded this guy of that self-control, and that I just did not recall any visual, nor any fan discussion about TRob's supposed act. All I recall about that game is KU's cold 1st half shooting, about 2-3 missed FTs more than should have been, and 3 missed point-blank dunks. And we closed to within 5pts...(sigh...)
So, my question to my fellow 'Hawks is this: does Self deserve "loss of respect" for this? What does everyone recall about these events. He also said Simien stabbed someone twice and got kicked out halfway through his Sr. year...??? Of course, I'd never heard anything about that. We all know about Giddens, and my theory is Self was tougher with fellow Okie Giddens, and simply used him as a convenient "example" to establish his coaching authority over what was a bunch of RoysBoys, perhaps a bit at Giddens expense. The accounts by Self and by Giddens even 8-9 yrs after the fact still widely differ, and alarmingly so...
Maybe this is just the sort of talk that opposing fans tell amongst themselves...? But I definitely did NOT like this guy's perceptions of KU and of our basketball program and of Bill Self. He also said the same of Coach K, after that 30-for-30 program on Laettner, and intentionally stepping on the downed player, with no foul called and "no action by Krzyzewski, lost all respect for him". He also said "KU asst coaches were taking exams for players, but NCAA only made them attend a class...".
Thoughts? I think its misinterpretations mixed in with opposing fan load-of-crap...
