I gave my son one of the posters that I created for the Kansan in the 90s and told him to take it to the game for good luck..

@stoptheflop Tre and Melvin are the 3rd scorer by committee. I love the way Tre is a foul-seeking missile at the end of the shot clock. And Melvin is a bit like a lighthouse -- blinding bright, but sometimes goes dark... Together they are great.

Peterson is once in a decade talent. I remember watching Durant and thinking.. man, why can't we get a dude like that on our team?

We got one.

Ugly game.

Heroic effort to tie the game. Truly. We should pause on that and give credit where credit is due.

Then, a Crimson & Blue gift-wrapped win for St.John's to undermine the heroic comeback. Wow.

Why on Earth Self swapped Rosario for ElMarko I can only speculate... Rosario's contributions in the comeback were undeniable.

It was a bizarre ending for a bizarre year. I'm sorry that Council and Tre weren't able to have more post-season success. I will miss them both.

Flory is really good, but should be interesting to see if he gets any bites.

DP was an interesting experiment.

Apparently not much to say here.

Well, I bought tickets at the last moment to the regional finals in San Jose and watched Purdue and Arizona go after each other.

I was mostly neutral on them; it was really just a college basketball fan deciding to go get a taste of that elite eight energy.

It did not disappoint. Crowd was maybe 65-35 for Arizona, but the arena got extremely loud as Arizona pulled away in the second half. Kudos to Arizona fans -- Attendance was listed at just over 14,000, but they got the place rockin' where it reminded me of AFH.

I've been to other NCAA tourney games, but there's usually a split between the various fan bases such that it can't get that loud.

Anyway... now there's one post here.... And its neither about Badgers or likable teams... lol

It's been said, but probably worth saying again: FLORY. This was a defensive game. And we had the better defense and the BEST defensive player.

Flory has to be defensive player of the week in the B12 and should get some recognition nationally.

Despite not sleeping well, I'm more sanguine (or at least neutral) about all of this. The ball bounces your way sometimes and bounces the other team's way sometimes.

I recall those FF years and the 2 championship runs and there was always a place where you can find moment in the game where you can say-- if that call goes the other way or the ball didn't drop at that moment... Self's legacy looks markedly different. We have never had a team that was so dominant that we didn't need a little luck to get to the FF or NC.

Also, we've been a juggernaut: In the tournament EVERY year and a historic run of B12 championships.

The consistent success made it seem like we should have even more success in the tourney. Easy to forget how difficult and rare it is to get a National Championship. (...I will be grateful, not spoiled...)

Only nine schools have won the title since 2004.

UConn (2004, 2011, 2014, 2023, 2024)
Florida (2006, 2007, 2025)
North Carolina (2005, 2009, 2017)
Kansas (2008, 2022)
Villanova (2016, 2018)
Duke (2010, 2015)
Kentucky (2012)
Louisville (2013)*
Baylor (2021)
Virginia (2019)

We all want more, but there are schools that have had a lot of success in the last 20+ years not on that list (Purdue, Gonzaga...)

---

On the PAY FOR PLAY topic, I'll just say that it was necessary and appropriate to pay players. It was also predictable that it would be bumpy, especially with the NCAA's track record of poorly establishing governance that drives the right behavior and also poor track record of consistent oversight and enforcement.

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Final point: Performance & Payment.

As a fan, focused on the 40 minutes that we watch on TV, it's hard to remember that player performance goes beyond what we see on court — beyond the stats.

We already know that there are aspects to the game that are beyond analytics, despite trying to count EVERYTHING.

But performance includes many things that we don't see and cannot be captured by analytics. These contributions to a program and to a team should still go into compensation consideration.

For instance, did the player show up to all the workouts? All the practices? Were they engaged in community services with the team and good stewards of the university? Did they do something stupid to damage the program's reputation? Were they disruptive or disrespectful?

When they do all the 'invisible' things right, we tend to ignore them as though they didn't count. But, those expectations are certainly there. And these 'employees' are mostly between the age of 18-23.

I'm disappointed by the loss but I am trying to keep things in perspective.

It was a good group of guys and a good coach. Coach probably did a phenomenal job this year in unique and tough circumstances with DP's situation/injuries.

It was a bad way to lose but the comeback (which shouldn't have been necessary) was still pretty heroic.

I think it's a bad year to be looking for a coach. I also look a Pitino (dinosaur?) who left the NCAA for several years under some dark clouds that were embarrassing and was able to revise his game outside of the spotlight (oversees, then to Iona). Izzo hasn't won a championship since 2000, but has great character and is admired.

Personally, I think Self is admired and needs to be give more time to adjust. It's very different and difficult to do it under the microscope of a legendary program like KU.

That said, none of the objective points above are invalid at all. It's worrisome and uncomfortable right now. Learning often feels that way... and we are all collectively on for the ride.

I hear you all.. but the main thing that was wrong the other night was that our best player (or most expensive asset, if you look at it cynically) was not on the floor.

I think this is a good, competitive roster, when the whole roster is considered, plus the staff and the ability of the players to grow and improve.

That last point is worth noting: Most of the players have played less than 10 games under Coach Self. Some of these players are incredibly talented and others are very experienced (or both). Coach Self's track record with seasoned players is excellent. I'm bullish on them all improving faster than the competition (if they all get on the court and play together sooner rather than later.)

Pounding Missouri is occupying 100% of the space in my head for basketball right now.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7165839/2026/04/02/uconn-women-men-march-madness-financial-nil-comparison/?smtyp=cur&smid=bsky-nytimes

Worth a read about how UConn's finances are doled out to men's vs women's basketball and basketball vs football. Less of a surprise that they are in the FF after reading this.

Maybe possible to isolate factors for a formula...

1. Shots that win (the team was behind or tied) the national championship at or near the buzzer (~3 sec or less)
2. Shots that force any OT in the national championship
3. Shots that win the Regional Finals at or near the buzzer
4. Shots that force any OT in the Regional Finals
5. Shots by underdogs that win NCAA Tournament games at or near the buzzer
   etc...

Some context should also be considered to rank within those categories -- For instance,

1. What kind of shot (3pt, 2pt, free throw?) and how far? (logo? beyond midcourt?)
2. Size of the deficit overcome
3. How little time the winning team led in the game.
4. How many lead changes
5. How high was the probability of winning for the losing team during the game and especially at the end of the game.
6. Number of OTs
   etc....

Given that UConn was 19 down, there were only 2 lead changes and they led less than a minute (~50 seconds), made this game all the more sensational.

Duke's probability of winning peaked at 98.7% with about 1:30 left in the first half. It was 95.3% with 5:03 left in the game. And it was 89.6% with 6 seconds left, when the turnover was committed.

While the UConn win was one for the ages, I think fantastic finishes in a National Championship have to be considered greater than fantastic finishes in lesser games.

The silver lining on Rosario is that he might be more affordable to keep given there is less tape on him. His lack of court time makes it a bit more difficult for another team to throw bags of money at him.

If we kept Flory and Rosario, it would be amazing given the talent that is coming in. I have a good feeling about Luke Barnett -- under the radar but excellent and committed early and has been steadfast. Might be exactly what the team culture needs.

Certainly not out of the realm of possibility that the delay has something to do with the status of Self and the KU program.

Great for Mullins. Storybook finish for yet another freshmen and a kid who seems legitimately good. And, man, Karaban has a golden touch. This time, he didn't take the game winning shot-- he made the game-winning assist.

My beef isn't with the UConn players. It's with Hurley. He's fine when he wins, but he's impetuous when he loses.

I have this sinking feeling that, while most of us are focusing on old grudges against Duke, there has been a shift and UConn has become the real bully.

8 final fours - all since 1999, 6 national titles with a chance to get their 7th.

That's an awful lot for such a small town as Storrs, CT where there's just nothing else going on... except for a little sports network down the road in Bristol.

My 2cents... but if I'd been Foster's parent, I would have strongly discouraged him from playing. There are injuries that are unrecoverable. I don't know the nature of his injury other than a fracture that was repaired with surgery... But I have a niece who was a track star in high school in Maryland... Winning state races as a Freshman. By the end of Junior year she was done. Overtraining on a foot injury led to bone death in her foot and that was that.

We all saw how long it took Embiid to come back from his foot injuries.

For Foster, it might be a mixed blessing that Duke's season is over and he can let his foot recover without pressure or guilt.

Sorry, I threw up in my mouth on that shot. If UConn wins a third championship in 4 years, I'm going to stop following college basketball. I don't want to think about how insufferable their fans are going to be. YUCK. Almost no team is less deserving of a miracle shot than UConn.

Go Illinois.

Apparently not much to say here.

Well, I bought tickets at the last moment to the regional finals in San Jose and watched Purdue and Arizona go after each other.

I was mostly neutral on them; it was really just a college basketball fan deciding to go get a taste of that elite eight energy.

It did not disappoint. Crowd was maybe 65-35 for Arizona, but the arena got extremely loud as Arizona pulled away in the second half. Kudos to Arizona fans -- Attendance was listed at just over 14,000, but they got the place rockin' where it reminded me of AFH.

I've been to other NCAA tourney games, but there's usually a split between the various fan bases such that it can't get that loud.

Anyway... now there's one post here.... And its neither about Badgers or likable teams... lol

Per CBS research: 2026 is the first year since 1954 that the Sweet Sixteen did not include at least one of the following: Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, or UCLA.

So, yeah... It feels a little different.

@kjayhawks2.0 said in Bill Self:

Haha a good one but the last time it happened, it worked out good for all parties involved.

True, but I will note it took more than 20 years before that was evident.

In the years that followed, I mostly recall wondering: "Why couldn't Roy do that when he was here?" I especially had that thought when he won a championship... all three times.