Despite being two of the Best Coaches of their Era, John Calipari and Bill Self have been bigtime Underachievers in March
They say success is the root to all happiness.
That might be true but one can’t deny that success can turn out to be a blessing as much as a curse. In the world of college basketball, the lines are blurred when it comes to the “S” word, particularly for head coaches. If the head coach at Creighton goes 25–6 and makes the Sweet 16, it’s considered a win-win of a season. Try a 29–4 season and a surprise Elite 8 appearance for the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes, and that’s completely beyond comprehension for a traditionally weak basketball program.
At Blue Blood programs like Kentucky and Kansas, those results are looked upon as simply failures. Nothing short of national titles and Final Fours will register with the school’s athletic administrators and their respective crazed fanbases in Lexington and Lawrence.
That’s the heavy expectations Kentucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari and Kansas head coach Bill Self have to face at the start of each new season…and they have both passed with flying colors in their tenure with each program (Calipari is currently in his ninth season at Kentucky; Bill Self is in his 15th season at Kansas).
By any measurement, if you had to come up with a top 10 list of the best men’s college basketball coaches of the 21st century (so far), it would most likely look something like this (no particular order): Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo, Bill Self, Mark Few, Jay Wright, Jim Calhoun, John Calipari and Billy Donavan. Self and Calipari are both clearly on that list.
Having come from schools where they each built into viable, bona fide hoops programs (Calipari at Massachusetts and Memphis; Self at Tulsa and Illinois), both landed golden jobs at prestigious powerhouses. While one started possibly the most remarkable run in college basketball history, the other kickstarted and pioneered the most revolutionary, forward-thinking and debatable period the NCAA has ever experienced.
Bill Self has carved out a 443–95 (.823) record during his time at Kansas, has eight 30-win seasons, been named National Coach of the Year three times, won eight Big 12 tournaments (including this year), from 2006 to 2012 assembled the best six-year run (197–29) of any men’s coach in Division I history, made two Final Fours, and won his first and only national championship in 2008. Maybe more extraordinary than any of Self’s accomplishments is the insane record of 14 consecutive regular season titles in the Big 12 (2005–2018) he’s won, which was extended this season and broke the NCAA record previously held by UCLA’s 13 straight conference championships (1967–1979). That regular season title streak has been the hallmark feat of Self’s career and perhaps the main reason why he was an early inductee — while still a present coach — into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2017.
John Calipari, on the other hand, became the Godfather of the present-day One-and-Done Era, which was born in the 2009–2010 season (Calipari’s first at Kentucky) where he brought in the loaded No. 1 ranked recruiting class of current NBA stars John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, along with Eric Bledsoe and Daniel Orton. From thereon, Calipari has snatched up every conceivable McDonald’s All-American/five-star recruit to play for him at Kentucky that also included the likes of Brandon Knight, Anthony “The Brow” Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Nerlens Noel, Julius Randle, Terrence Jones, Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, Jamal Murray, De’Aaron Fox and Malik Monk, who were all first-round draft picks.
Calipari pretty much mastered the art of convincing super-talented high schoolers to come play under his tutelage by giving them the best of both worlds teaching (college and pro game), knowing full-well they are only staying for one year then bolting for the NBA.
Calipari basically remixed the recruiting game.
Nevermind the challenge of handling a distinctly different roster every season; Coach Cal makes it work and all the other major programs followed suit, aggressively recruiting one-and-done players just to keep up with the stacked, pro-laden Kentucky teams Calipari was trotting on the court. He’s produced four Final Fours, five SEC regular season titles, six SEC tournaments (including this year) and his lonesome national championship in 2012, during his time at Kentucky.
Self and Calipari’s resumes sound gravy but the flaws are too evident to miss. Bill Self and John Calipari are like two peas in a pod when it comes to constantly falling short of reaching the lofty standards that their prominent basketball schools expect to achieve in the NCAA Tournament.
The problem is the number “one”, as in the number of national titles Self and Calipari each have won at Kansas and Kentucky…and that’s just not acceptable at the two winningest college basketball programs in Division I men’s history (Kentucky is currently No. 1;Kansas is No. 2).
(Ironically enough, both coach’s only championship came at the expense of each other in the national title game: Self and Kansas’ wonderfully-balanced group defeated Calipari’s 38–2, Derrick Rose-led Memphis team in 2008 that was an instant classic, and Calipari returned the favor in 2012, as his historically-great Kentucky squad beat Self’s good, but not great Kansas team.)
Since leading Kansas to the national championship in 2008 (37–3 record as a #1 seed), there has been no college basketball coach that has been as consistent over the past decade (since 2009) as Bill Self.
Take a look at the teams Bill Self carried into the NCAA Tournament the last nine years, and closely observe what their tournament seed was and what their final record was at season’s end:
2009: No. 3 seed, 27–8 record
2010: No. 1 seed, 33–3 record
2011: No. 1 seed, 35–3 record
2012: No. 2 seed, 32–7 record
2013: No. 1 seed, 31–6 record
2014: No. 2 seed, 25–10 record
2015: No. 2 seed, 27–9 record
2016: No. 1 seed, 33–5 record
2017: No. 1 seed, 31–5 record
Kansas has had no drop off or season where they were rebuilding or too young to contend since that 2008 national title. Self’s Jayhawks have essentially been a prime contender to win the whole thing for 10 straight years now (including going into this year’s tournament). Not even Duke, North Carolina, Arizona, Kentucky, Michigan State, UCLA and Connecticut can make that claim over that stretch.
Sad thing is, this is what the end results were in the NCAA Tournament:
2009: Lost in Sweet 16
2010: Lost in Second Round (Major Upset)
2011: Lost in Elite 8 (Upset)
2012: Lost in National title game
2013: Lost in Sweet 16
2014: Lost in Round of 32 (Upset)
2015: Lost in Round of 32
2016: Lost in Elite 8
2017: Lost in Elite 8
Over the last nine years, Self has managed to make only one Final Four (2012), and has brought no national titles to Lawrence given the pro players, excellent freshmen and college stars he’s coached during that span (Cole Aldrich, Xavier Henry, Sherron Collins, the Morris Twins, Thomas Robinson, Ben McLemore, Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Kelly Oubre Jr., Wayne Selden Jr., Perry Ellis, Josh Jackson, Frank Mason III).
While Self has suffered some shocking early losses in the Big Dance at Kansas (2005 First round loss to 14-seed Bucknell; 2006 First round loss to 13-seed Bradley; 2010 Second round loss to 9-seed Northern Iowa; 2014 loss in the Round of 32 to 10-seed Stanford), his hiccups have not come in the Sweet 16 (7–2 record) but in the Elite 8, where he’s a baffling 2–5. I’m still trying to figure out what’s Bill Self’s deal in the Elite 8.
No one can decipher it and the crazy part is Kansas was the best team or at least one of the top three favorites heading into the tournament in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2017 (you could make a case for the 2014 Andrew Wiggins-Joel Embiid squad when they were playing their A game too), and they all fell short of not just winning the title but not even making the Final Four.
Doesn’t add up and to me, and after losing to Oregon in the Elite 8 last year, I dubbed Self and Kansas the College Basketball version of Bobby Cox and the Atlanta Braves of the 1990s.
Great in the regular season but underperformed too many times in the postseason.
In Calipari’s case, the NCAA Tournament has treated him a little bit better than Self but not so much better. Since his arrival at Kentucky in the 2009–2010 season, no coach has obtained more highly-touted and hyped recruiting classes as routinely as John Calipari has. (The ranking of Kentucky’s recruiting class every season under Calipari looks like this: 2009: 1; 2010: 1; 2011: 1; 2012: 1; 2013: 1; 2014: 2; 2015: 1; 2016: 2; 2017: 2.)
That kind of talent has helped get the three-time National Coach of the Year to four Final Fours (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015) but disappointingly only one title. That 2012 championship team was a marvel of a bunch led by the top two picks in the 2012 NBA Draft (Anthony Davis at No. 1; Michael Kidd-Gilchrist at No. 2) that won an NCAA-record 38 games to only two losses but Coach Cal’s shortcomings come from the mere fact that he’s coached 23 players that went on to be NBA first-round picks in his nine years at Kentucky (24 if you include Enes Kanter but he never played a game for the 2011 Wildcats due to ineligibility) and he only has one championship to show for it.
What’s even more incomprehensible is that Calipari’s 2010 team (finished 35–3 as a #1 seed that was carried by the unreal John Wall-DeMarcus Cousins-Eric Bledsoe-Patrick Patterson quartet) and his 2015 team (finished 38–1, was a #1 seed and took a undefeated record all the way to the Final Four, until they were upset by Wisconsin) were two of the best teams of the modern era (definitely in my lifetime) and neither was the last team standing. (2015 Kentucky had a legit chance to declare themselves the “Best College Basketball Team Ever” if they finished 40–0.)
Both coaches have an opportunity to erase those past disheartening postseason defeats from their memory this week as March Madness kicks off but for the majority of this 2018 campaign, neither Kentucky or Kansas have looked much like there equipped to make a national title run.
Kansas’ troubles (lost three home games this season, which is the most in a season in Self’s time at KU) revolve around their lack of size in the frontcourt, inability to rebound (ranks 182nd in the nation in rebounds per game), streaking outside shooting, absence of a dependable bench and this team plainly doesn’t hold the overall talent that last year’s group had (not having lottery pick Josh Jackson and 2017 Player of the Year winner Frank Mason III will do that to a team), yet still in all, Bill Self’s weakest Kansas team since 2009 showed enough resolve in conference play and offensive exploits to win their 14th consecutive Big 12 title, the Big 12 conference tournament and rightfully earned a No. 1 seed. Led by Big 12 Player of the Year and National Player of the Year candidate Devonte’ Graham, Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Lagerald Vick, Udoka Azubuike and Malik Newman, this version of Kansas (27–7 record) still has guys that can get hot enough to make a Final Four run this time around.
Despite having the No. 2 overall recruiting class and five McDonald’s All-American’s (Quade Green, Kevin Knox, Jarred Vanderbilt, Nick Richards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) on this year’s roster, Calipari has had a challenging job getting possibly the youngest team in college basketball history to perform at a sustained high-level of play all season. This 2018 edition might not be Cal’s worst Kentucky team (the 2013 NIT participate Wildcats win that argument) but this team is the most in flux and incompatible group he’s ever coached (lost four games in a row in February and dropped out of the Top 25 at some point this season).
The parts just don’t fit. One strength of Calipari’s young Wildcats is that they can match up athletically with any team in the country, and their size and length (they have nine players 6’5” or taller) is a real plus for them when it comes to the defensive side of the ball. Still, Kentucky’s deficiencies stand out more. There 24th in offensive efficiency. They are a dreadful outside shooting team (130th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage in an era where spacing and being an effective 3-point shooting team is more imperative than ever before). They turn the ball over too much. They don’t move the ball well enough (ranks 179th in the nation in assists per game). They lack true playmakers. There are no NBA-quality players on the roster maybe other than Kevin Knox and Hamidou Diallo but neither one has proven to be the impactful, transcendental, game-changing players that Karl-Anthony Towns, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis and John Wall were, that Calipari is so accustomed to having.
Most importantly, Kentucky is just too young (of Kentucky’s top nine players in minutes played, seven are freshmen while the other two are sophomores). Calipari’s most successful Kentucky teams (2012, 2015) had a nice balance of elite talent, young stars and experience. This team just doesn’t have that combination. However, Kentucky (24–10 record) is entering into the tournament as a No. 5 seed and it would be foolish to overlook them given past results as long shots under Calipari to do anything noteworthy in March. (In 2011, Kentucky made the Final Four as a No. 4 seed and in 2014 they made the national title game as a No. 8 seed.)
We’ll see if Bill Self and John Calipari can lead their teams to a deep tournament run over these next three weeks and flip the narrative but until then, they both have to be labeled as Underachievers in March.
And that just shouldn’t be the case.
