"I would have never thought that": Bill Self pledges his allegiance to Kansas after surviving NCAA scrutiny

Kansas coach Bill Self said that he didn't consider leaving the program during the NCAA investigation. However, he revealed that the narrative peddled against him and the coaches troubled him.

Self shared that he felt muzzled, as he couldn't defend what people had to say. He said that much was done to offset what the FBI had found about the issue. He took a trip down memory lane in 'The Field of 68 with Jeff Goodman' podcast this weekt:

“No, no, no. I would have never thought that. Until we got through it. Never entered my mind until we got through it. What was so disappointing to me was the narrative which I thought was not only unfair to me. And to our program and to coaches, but others as well. That’s not associated with Kansas.”

The Kansas Jayhawks were charged with five Level I NCAA violations. The charges included the lack of institutional control and head coach responsibility charges against Bill after it came to light that Adidas had made payments to various Jayhawks players.

IARP dropped the Level I violations to Level III. Bill Self avoided the show cause penalty in the case, following which he shared that he was proud of the players and the way they dealt with the situation.

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Bill Self on winning the national championship at the height of NCAA investigations

Despite the NCAA investigation, the Kansas Jayhawks beat North Carolina 72-69 in the 2021-22 season. It was the second national championship victory under coach Bill Self and the fourth title in program history.

The Jayhawks coach went into the details of the victory that tasted so sweet in troubling times, per On3:

“That was tough on everybody. And then probably the most proud thing was that we actually won a national championship at the height of it. We weren’t able to recruit the same way that we’ve recruited in the past and the kids we go after.

"The Christian Brauns and the Ochai Agbajis and the David McCormacks, and the Jalen Wilsons, and the Remy Martins, and the Dajuan Harris. Guys that basically came to us very underrecruited. We knew they were good players. But we had no idea they’d turn out to be the level which they have. That made it very gratifying and fun.”

This year too, the Jayhawks are hopeful for a third national championship title under Bill Self. They have a loaded roster led by Hunter Dickinson.

Self roped in some top talents from the transfer portal to boost he team. He brought in top-five star transfer AJ Storr. Rylan Griffen and Zeke Mayo were also top transfer portal hunts by the Kansas coach.

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