LAWRENCE, Kan. _ Bill Self held a team meeting with Kansas' basketball players on Thursday night, a season-ending session to discuss the end of a wildly successful 2019-20 campaign.
"They are crushed just like I'm sure the other teams are crushed. They were heartbroken (but) they handled it maturely. I'm proud of them," Self, KU's 17th-year coach told The Star about his players, who finished No. 1 in the AP poll and won the Big 12 with a 28-3 record but have been denied a postseason tournament in a national response to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
NCAA President Mark Emmert announced Thursday the 2020 NCAA Tournament would be canceled, causing sadness on campuses across the land.
"There are many players out there, their conference tournament was their NCAA Tournament. Careers ended that way," Self said. "I'm sure being hurt, crushed, sad are understatements compared to the time, energy and effort athletes put forth to put themselves in position to play for the highest stakes, whatever that was relative to where they were.
Some pundits have said on social media and in interviews the NCAA Tournament should have merely been postponed, not canceled.
"I don't think so," Self said, asked specifically if he thought the tourney should be delayed until say, May, and not called off. "The medical experts know far better than anybody else on where we are and potentially going. Certainly I'm disappointed for everybody, not just men basketball or women's basketball. I'm disappointed for anybody connected to sports right now. Any sport, whether it's professional or amateur or whatnot.
"I'm sure the correct decision was made. People can say they don't like it or wish they (NCAA officials) would have waited. But nobody had more facts to make the decision than the people that actually did. I don't think we should say that we would have done it differently I don't think the facts were such that a different decision should have been made."
Some KU fans have said since the Jayhawks were consensus No. 1, perhaps KU should be crowned 2020 national champion.
"I wish I could agree with them," Self said. "But that's not how this works. We put ourselves in a position I feel to give us one of the better chances we've had to compete for a championship. The bottom line is there was no champion. When there's no championship how can there be a crowned winner?
"No matter the competition you've got to have the competition. I mean no matter what it is. If you enter a spelling bee, are they going to reward you with the championship if it is canceled and you are the favorite coming in? Or you won it last year? That's not how it works. This is going to be a vacant championship. I do think," he continued, "there has to be a some way, and I haven't figured it out yet, we can kind of memorialize the great year our players did have. It's not going to be through a trophy. Looking back, the biggest thing we could have done this year was win the league. That was our NCAA championship. I'm very happy our guys did it by two games, responded so favorably the last two months of the season."
Self said at this time the Jayhawks can't even hold a postseason banquet to celebrate the campaign.
"At this time probably not. We can't be involved with crowds of 50," Self said. "It's different."
Self said perhaps postseason individual awards will mean more now.
"Maybe we'll take some pride in the All-America teams that come out. Obviously that will become a bigger deal to me because it is really the last thing we have we can hang out hat on in this college scene," he said. "In the past you had those awards but used to play for a championship. Now there is no championship. There's no NABC Convention. It's like it was never scheduled. What's been done to this point, I guess you could give out individual awards. Those individual awards may carry more weight not just to respective individuals but to respective schools."
Self said his players likely would remain on campus as the spring semester normally does not end until mid May. However, some may head home.
"I think the majority are going to stay here at least initially," Self said. "Anybody that goes home will be local kids at this point. I remember 9/11, right after 9/11 it was so emotional but it was different. I remember the parents of players at that moment wanting kids close to them. I don't know how it'll be this moment with the uncertainty. Do you want them to stay here? I don't know how they'll feel."
They will not be practicing right away.
"We are going to take some time away from it for a while," Self said. "I've got to find out all the rules. I'm sure we can work guys out if they want to work out. The season has ended a month earlier than normal. The NCAA used to be whenever a season is over you got to take a week off and stuff. That was per NCAA rules. I'm not sure that is still in place. There won't be any activity I would think going on the next week or so."
He said he would continue to report to his office.
"Everybody has to be concerned, but smart too," Self said. "This is one time where we all think the rules are good for everybody else but not so good for me. Everybody needs to agree the rules are right. Whatever we're told to do we should do."
"The bottom line on this season? The thing about this team, all teams we had, every team went into the tournament with a chance to do something special from a talent standpoint or skill standpoint. This team was built for that. This team was built for what goes into making a run _ toughness, focus, lack of distractions. If this team could deal with all the distractions they had I think they could have handled some media attention. They were built for this."
Asked if he would have to work on the NCAA notice of allegations that will result in a hearing with NCAA officials at some point regarding Level I violations, Self said: "I'm sure I will. I have some extra time now to work on some stuff. I'm sure I will. That will become more a focus I'm sure."
As far as the roster for next year, Self said ultimately some players will have decisions to make on whether they'll turn pro or return to school.
"We'll talk to our guys and go over the rules to make sure they don't jeopardize their ability to do that (test waters)," Self said. "Right now what do we know they are testing? We don't even know if there will be a combine. We don't know if there will be workouts."
