Bill Self reacts to Coach K’s comments, sees playing games as a good thing right now
Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said Tuesday he’d like the NCAA “for the mental health and safety of our players and staff, to assess where we’re at.”
In other words, the Hall of Famer questioned whether it’s wise to be “plowing through” nonconference games amid a spike in COVID-19 cases around the USA. He took matters into his own hands Thursday in announcing that the Blue Devils would be forgoing the remainder of their nonconference games and gear up for conference play.
Kansas coach Bill Self, who along with Coach K is as high-profile as they come, offered his own assessment of where he believes his team is at, having won five of six games in the span of 15 days with games on tap Friday versus Omaha and Sunday against Tarleton State.
“I actually am,” Self said, when asked in a video conference call by a Star reporter if he is “OK with the way things are going, playing amid the spike (in COVID-19 cases)”
“I am not saying that basketball in any way shape or form is more important than public health or anything like that,” Self said. “I mean the precautions that we do and the protocols that we have I would think would be in many ways far safer than if we weren’t playing and just turning the guys loose. (That’s) because it would be hard to have protocols like this if there are no actual games.”
Self said he did view clips of Krzyzewski’s comments after Duke’s loss to Illinois on Tuesday.
“I am certainly not in total disagreement in what he said. I watched it. I do think there’s some things about it could make you wonder about some things, but I also think there have been a lot of safety measures that have (been) taken that a lot of people have attempted to do,” Self said.
“Nobody bats 1,000. Of course there’s been some unfortunate cancellations and things like that, but I would think they would be much much higher if we didn’t have all these protocols in place and if we weren’t playing games, at least from our own team’s perspective,” Self added.
Self was asked if he felt playing games amid the pandemic is good for his players from a mental health perspective.
“I think so. I do,” Self said emphatically. “I think being off the whole summer, going through what everybody went through last year (March) with the cancellation of the (NCAA) tournament, (then) being away from each other all summer for the most part, (then) coming back … I’m not saying it’s perfect by any stretch but I think if we take it away, I also don’t think that would be the greatest thing either.”
Self said earlier this week on his Hawk Talk radio show that he’d made the decision to let his players head home for a short Christmas break. KU plays West Virginia on Dec. 22 in Lawrence then does not play again until Jan. 2, also at home, versus Texas. The players will likely head to their hometowns or towns in which their guardians or close friends live, for three or four days.
“You ask guys to be in a bubble basically for five months, which we have. They are basically bubbled up,” Self said, “and then you are saying, ‘You can’t see your family for Christmas,’ I think problems can really start to occur late January or early February. We have made the decision and I think most other schools are doing the same thing — to try to educate families (about social distancing and protocol involving holiday gatherings) and hope for the best in certain situations. Even though it’s probably not the safest thing for today I think it’s better for the long term.”
As far as the upcoming two nonconference games, Self said: “I’m thankful that we’re just playing games. There are a lot of schools out there not playing games right now. We’re thankful we’ve been able to do so.”
Up to 2,500 fans will be allowed for the 6 p.m. game against Omaha on Friday and 1 p.m. contest against Tarleton State on Sunday. Tarleton State is coached by Self’s long time friend and former Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie.
This story was originally published December 10, 2020 at 5:46 PM with the headline "Bill Self reacts to Coach K’s comments, sees playing games as a good thing right now."
