"I've been thinking about next season": Kansas HC Bill Self shrugs off defeat against Gonzaga amid first 11-loss season

Kansas Jayhawks coach Bill Self already has plans for next season after his team exited March Madness 2024 in the second round on Saturday. The No. 4 seeded Kansas (23-11) suffered a blowout 89-68 loss against the No. 5 seeded Gonzaga Bulldogs (27-7) at Delta Center.

After a disappointing end to the Jayhawks' postseason run, coach admitted that he wasn't too optimistic about a deep run in the NCAA Tournament this year

“I think for the last month I’ve been thinking about next season to be honest. Not in the moments during the game but obviously we played — we had eight guys on scholarship that were healthy there late, and injuries are part of the game so that’s not an excuse, but we could have done a much better job as a staff of putting more guys out there that we could play.” Self said in his post-game press conference.

“And so that’s something that I’ve thought about for a long time. And the thing about it is in basketball, early on you can play some things. But the course of a season, there’s a grind that goes with it and bodies get run down, injuries occur, that’s all part of it. And when you don’t have as much firepower that maybe you’ve had in past years it certainly showed this year.”

This season has been relatively tough for the Jayhawks. It is the first time Kansas has lost 11 games in a season since Self took charge in 2003.

The Jayhawks finished the regular season with a 22-9 overall record (10-8 in the conference). They suffered a 72-52 loss against Cincinnati in the first round of the conference tournament.

Kansas managed a 93-89 win over Samford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but the school suffered a 21-point blowout loss against the lower-seeded Bulldogs in the second round.

How many NCAA championships has Bill Self won? A look at

Kansas Jayhawks HC Bill Self

Bill Self has led the Kansas Jayhawks to two NCAA championship wins. His first title win came in 2008 and the second triumph arrived in 2022.

Self has won 16 regular season titles and eight Big 12 Tournaments as well since taking over the reins at Kansas. He has a 603-143 record as the Jayhawks coach.