Coach Bill Self of Kansas, the reigning Division I men’s basketball champion and a top team this season, will miss the remainder of the Big 12 Conference tournament due to health reasons, the university announced Thursday.
Self, 60, arrived at the University of Kansas Health System’s emergency department Wednesday evening and underwent a “standard procedure,” the school said Thursday evening. The university did not specify the type of treatment, but in his statement, Dr. Steven Stites, the health system’s chief medical officer, said Self did not have a heart attack, which had been speculated about social networks.
Kansas had said Thursday morning that Self was recovering from an illness. The school said in the evening that it would not release any further medical details at this time.
“I am very grateful for the overwhelming number of well wishes my family and I have received,” Self said in a statement. “I’m excited to be back with my team in the very near future.”
Norm Roberts, a Kansas assistant and former St. John’s head coach, led the Jayhawks in Thursday’s 78-61 victory over West Virginia. He also coached the team in the first four games of the season, when Self served a school-imposed four-game punishment as Kansas sought to soften potential NCAA sanctions following a federal investigation into corruption in sports. The NCAA has not yet issued a decision in Kansas’ case.
Roberts will coach Kansas for the remainder of the conference tournament. The Jayhawks are scheduled to face Iowa State in the semifinals Friday night in Kansas City, Missouri.
“Coach always preaches to us, ‘Hey, do the work, focus on what you can control,’” Roberts said after Thursday’s game. “There are other things you can’t control, so what we could control was getting the team ready, getting them ready to play, locking in and playing the way we needed to win the game, and I thought our guys did a great job being very, very focused.
Kansas went 13-5 in the Big 12 to win a regular season title for the 17th time in Self’s 20-year tenure. After winning the NCAA Tournament last year – the second title at Kansas for Hall of Fame coach Self – the Jayhawks are in contention to be the No. 1 overall seed in these postseasons playoffs, despite having two players, Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun, selected in the first round of last year’s NBA draft.
The standings for this year’s tournament will be announced on Sunday and the first round will begin on March 16.
