Kansas basketball: Bill Self deserved Big 12 Coach of the Year
Kansas basketball’s Bill Self did not receive the Big 12 Coach of the Year Award, but he should have.
During his time with Kansas basketball, Bill Self has won the Coach of the Year (COY) award six times. He’s won the conference regular-season championship 15 times including this season; however, Scott Drew was given the COY this year.
Drew did an incredible job this season at Baylor; there’s no denying that. He led the Bears to a 15-3 conference record, their best finish in Big 12 history. Still, it wasn’t enough to win Baylor their first-ever Big 12 title.
After a “down” year in the conference last season, Self led the Jayhawks to a 17-1 record and title. Winning 94 percent of your conference games is crazy, and while the Big 12 isn’t as strong as it has been in the past, it’s still a tough league. At least five teams will probably make the NCAA Tournament, so it certainly isn’t a weak conference.
It’s almost like instead of looking at how incredible of a job Self did, it’s more about how well Drew did given the circumstances. Sure, Baylor is a tougher place to succeed than Kansas and the Jayhawks had high expectations this season, but there’s something to be said for meeting those high expectations and exceeding them in many ways.
Kansas basketball was ridiculous in conference play this season. The Jayhawks went undefeated on the road, and they raked in a ton of awards including two First-Team All-Big 12 selections, the Big 12 Player of the Year, and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.
READ MORE: Multiple Jayhawks rake in Big 12 awards this season
Bill Self could probably win the Big 12 COY almost every season given how great the Jayhawks have been since he took over. Hopefully, the lack of recognition for how good of job he did is more of a motivating factor for the conference tournament and in March Madness.
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On this Thursday at 1:30 p.m. on either ESPN or ESPN 2, the Jayhawks will play against the winner of Iowa State and Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament.