It has not been a good calendar year for the Kansas basketball program, and Bill Self knows it.
Things have been a mess for Kansas since the team’s second round loss to Auburn in last year’s NCAA Tournament, including off-court investigations and an embarrassing fight with rivals Kansas State. Self admitted in an interview with ESPN’s Rece Davis for College GameDay that the program’s image has taken a hit and is operating under a “negative cloud.
“I think the image of the program has taken a hit in recent memory, without question,” Self said, via Sam Marsdale of 247Sports. “I think that’s a fair question to ask. I do know this when you talk about image of a program in large part — you look at individuals, you look at kids. And of course you look at the staff. The staff, of course, myself is implicated in the NCAA allegations or the potential allegations of potential infractions with what transpired through individuals that work for Adidas. We know that. I know the truth on that, and I hope the truth prevails, but everybody is entitled to an opinion about that because there is evidence linking us into it without question, through text messages or what not. I know that, I own that. So, our time will come.
“Our players had something to do with this the other day. That’s a negative cloud. I, my staff, hold the responsibility of the cloud. But it’s certainly not players. Nobody’s got better players in their program than we do. … This program has is solid as it ever has been. The thing that I think in coaching, you go through peaks and valleys. And we’ve been in a valley. I don’t think that it’s a valley that we can’t get out of or climb out of.”
In addition to the Kansas State fight, Kansas faces an NCAA investigation and endured controversy over Snoop Dogg’s Midnight Madness show in October. Self is right that all of this has combined to hurt the program’s image, and it’s unlikely that the school can know how bad the damage is or start repairing it until the NCAA hands down sanctions.
