Bill Self has been one of the most forceful personalities on the sidelines in college basketball during his KU tenure, without being a jerk about it.
Many coaches show rage. Many stay calm. Many crack wise and ride the refs.
But Bill Self has distinguished himself by doing all of these things, seemingly on demand, and more.
If college basketball coaching were acting, Bill Self would be Paul Newman. He would be a cool guy with incredible range, likability and longevity. He would be able to evince both artistic purpose and commercial savvy. He would have class, but also never forget where he came from, or the joys of popping the top on a tall cool one in the right circumstances. He would in short be most that is good about the best of we Americans, and not a phony, or a pretender to being a high brow, outside-in actor from London. He would be proud of the inside-out Method of Stanislavsky and Hank Iba and stick to it, while adapting it expediently, and maintaining a healthy skepticism about his own fame.
Self can fry eggs on his neck with the best of them. He can fill a sideline with his smile. He can in one game question man hood and tell players to believe. He can drive players to want to fight him in huddles. He can work the referees without making them hate him, or he can shame them for not calling cheap shots by having his players do absolutely absurd cheap shots in mid transition calculated not to hurt an opposing player to shame referees into calling a fair game. His cracks can sting like yellow jackets as players run by him in transition and he can jaw a player coming to the bench into the cracks in the floor, or praise them like he is in awe, and practically lay on hands on them like Oral Roberts. This guy has, as they say in Hollywood, when not defiling children and mind controlling divas, massive acting chops and incredible range. The guys should be interviewed on the Actor's Studio.
So: in this early winter of our discontent, after two nearly unprecedented consecutive losses--one at home and one in our home away from home--why is Self not putting on the holy terror make up and prowling the sidelines railing at missed defensive assignments, and poor shot selection, and pop tarts by the bakers dozen, and, well, not the usual hyper intensity of guarding that Self teams are known for?
Simple.
This team has serious shortcomings.
Those shortcomings limit what he can do in the way of strategic shortcomings.
These guys are trying hard, but they are young and some are shall we say idiosyncratic.
And finally and perhaps most importantly, IMHO, Self does not want to appear a cry baby himself.
Self appears a student of the history of the game. He apparently knows about most of the great coaches of the past. He apparently understands their successes and failures, as well as their trials and tribulations. Otherwise, I don't see how he could have side stepped so many of their mistakes.
Self just has to understand he has been on an incredible run for 13 years second only to John Wooden.
Self must understand that he has had a run of fine players, depth, and good fortune to go along with his incredible brilliance as a coach.
If Self were to begin storming up and down the sidelines just because he finally has deal with the kinds of slings and arrows of outrageous basketball fortune that even Coach K, Calipari and Roy have had to deal with and that have caused them to fall to .500 a few times each, well, Self would seem like a spoiled, petty tyrant, or to use one of his marvelous phrases, he would seem to be coaching "like a baby."
While I can hand wring and worry about what may be going on behind the information black out that currently envelopes Billy Preston, his car, and the KU basketball program, Self really is approaching this situation the right way right now. The team is in an incredibly difficult situation both because of being short handed and because of the uncertainties regarding Preston, and which other players might, or might not show up next semester. And on top of all that, fans should not forget that in college ball there is always the chance that someone that is playing right now, might blow a test, or two, and wind up academically ineligible for second semester, or someone might get go all teenager and decide the grass is greener somewhere else.
Self appears to be trying to keep this unusual situation in perspective, IMHO.
Go, Bill, go!!!
