Kansas freshman guard Josh Jackson, who was suspended for the Jayhawks' Big 12 tournament loss to TCU, will play in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, Bill Self reiterated on the Big 12 men's basketball coaches' teleconference Monday.
"Hell no. OK, that answers your question," Self said when asked by a reporter if there was anything he's seen "in any of this stuff or is anything happening at the university level that might prevent him from playing or is he 100 percent good to go?"
Jackson was charged Feb. 24 in Douglas County District Court with one count of misdemeanor property damage stemming from a Dec. 9 police report made by KU women's basketball player McKenzie Calvert, whose car was vandalized outside a Lawrence, Kan., bar and restaurant. Jackson is scheduled to be arraigned in Douglas County District Court on April 12.
"The thing about it is, there have been some things that have been written, and obviously you have a student-athlete from another sport that has commented on some things, and then of course, you have the father of the student-athlete," Self said, continuing a lengthy response to the question.
The Star has reported that Calvert's father, Tim, said he felt his daughter was treated unfairly in terms of discipline by the KU athletic department. Jackson was not suspended until Self became aware of another incident in which Jackson backed into a car on campus and did not report it to police.
Jackson issued a statement after he was charged in the car vandalism case in which he apologized and said he offered to pay any damages that he directly caused. The Star reported last week that Tim Calvert said he received a restitution offer from one of Jackson's lawyers that came with stipulations he did not agree to: that the Calvert family not pursue an investigation with the university, that they agree damages Jackson made to the car were of a misdemeanor amount, and that they agree they do not want the vandalism prosecuted.
"I certainly know that there's a lot of different facts about the situation and," Self continued, "to be real candid with you, I'm mad at the situation, but I'm not necessarily pointing fingers and saying I'm mad at an individual or a parent or anything like that, because here's the reality of it. ... You don't know. I don't know. He (Tim Calvert) doesn't know everything that has transpired, nobody knows.
"I can't talk to him nor would I ever attempt to do so, nor would I ever talk about a student-athlete from another program, never. We would never do that. The one thing is, I don't know what the women's basketball program has told those parties or educated them to the different things that were going on. If I'm a parent and I hadn't been educated, I could see being very upset, totally, if nobody from the university or the women's basketball program has shared with him what's going on. Now if it is has been shared, and all the facts are out there, (and) some things are being said, to me that's disappointing. But no, there's been nothing (to prevent Josh from playing in NCAAs)."
After not answering numerous and detailed questions from The Star earlier last week, Scott Boatman, a Denver attorney, issued a statement late Friday in which he said "it is unfortunate that Mr. Calvert is single-handedly creating a narrative that is not accurate." Boatman's statement did not elaborate on what was inaccurate.
"Josh and his mother have acquired representation," Self said. "Those attorneys are held to a certain code. There's absolutely nothing I'd be remotely concerned about as far as the one thing I heard, as far as ethical things taking place. I don't believe that to be the case. Having read Josh's attorney's statement, I certainly feel stronger about that now than ever."
