Self is doing it again. He is finding a way to win that is not in the books. He is playing 2 point guards simultaneously, going without a backup for either point guard, playing a 2 at the 3, a 3 at the 4, 5 guys at the 5, taking only 16-17 3 PTAs per game with the best trinitarians in the country, guarding 7-6 guys with 6-7 guys, and getting photographed in brands of clothing he is not contracted with.
It's who he is.
And KU will be Number 1.
The gloves are off on weird here, people.
KU has not just left the program.
It has left the mainframe the program ran in.
Oh, it looks like basketball, alright.
People are running in shorts and sneakers.
Bob Davis' lips are moving.
National media are hyping lousy big market teams.
The cheer leaders are still desirable to old men.
But all other parallels with basketball reality as we once knew it are over.
Aside from the healed blemish of having been beaten by RATSO, the record is perfect.
The team has systematized doing things differently.
They are like magicians with 40 minutes of new tricks.
They show up, do the tricks quickly, and move on before anyone sees through the illusions.
In the kingdom of the blind, Self's bunch of Harry Houdinis keeps making opponents disappear.
We can talk Xs and Os, and Multiple Offense 2.0, and faster tempo, more experience and depth, and so on, but really this is basketball Citizen Kane stuff. Orson Self.
We and other basketball coaches are under the spell of a master illusionist.
No one really knows how the hell he is doing this trick.
Not yet.
Seriously, who called KU Number 1 in January with Bragg and Diallo playing <15 mpg?
