KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self never has been one to sulk. That would be "soft," after all, a concept he holds in contempt.
But before he coaxed the Jayhawks to the 2008 national title, there were times he felt sensations ranging from simply deficient to "I can't catch a break at the right time."
In the most compelling of fashions with an overtime win over Memphis in that championship game, though, Self purged the two first-round knockouts his teams had suffered early in his KU tenure and doused any lingering stigma of four Elite Eight losses at three different schools. Outside the Kansas locker room late that night, Self projected a certain serenity to a few of us gathered speaking with him.
To some degree, that feeling has persisted ever since, Self said when we spoke by phone in January about how the psychology of the pursuit might change after such a breakthrough.
In this case, the concept was as it related to the Chiefs and Andy Reid but Self's words resonated.
"There was a sense of calm, maybe would be the right way to put it, that maybe didn't exist before you actually won it," he said.
Which is not all the same as complacency, to be sure, as KU (32-6) enters the Final Four on Saturday in New Orleans with a national semifinal date against Villanova (30-7).
The Wildcats and coach Jay Wright, of course, have been a recent scourge of their own for Self and KU; enough so that the result will stand for something broader than just one game.
But before we get back to the fact that Villanova has won two national titles by going through Kansas (which beat Villanova along the way in 2008) and what it means now, let's amplify this point:
Even after a number of agonizing postseason moments since that 2008 triumph, Self retains an abiding and sustaining sense that a championship can always be in the grasp.
It's just that it still has to be seized — a notion perhaps as evident and urgent as ever with an NCAA case forever bubbling in the background and with a veteran team whose time at KU has been as affected by COVID's impact as any program in the nation.
In 2020, KU was ranked No. 1 when the pandemic wiped out the NCAA Tournament itself. Last season, positive COVID tests forced Kansas out of the Big 12 Tournament and depleted the Jayhawks in NCAA play on the way to an 85-51 second-round jackhammering by USC.
"I don't think anybody on our team has experienced what the NCAA Tournament can potentially be like, even if they participated in it ..." Self said after Kansas won this year's Big 12 tournament.
Now they have, to a point, with Self busting back through his own intermittent invisible fence of the Elite Eight (in which he's now 4-7) when the Jayhawks drubbed Miami.
That leaves them face-to-face with this recent bane of their NCAA Tournament existence: The Wildcats have won four of their last five overall against KU, including a 64-59 Elite Eight win in 2016 and the 95-79 national semifinal blowout in 2018.
"I haven't wanted to think about that since 2018 ...," Self said earlier this week, alluding to Villanova's scalding shooting and adding, "It wasn't over before it started, but it wasn't far off."
But even if Self hasn't wanted to think about it since then, he certainly has now.
"I do think there are a couple of things that I know personally that I made notes on and stuff I'll try to handle differently down there than the way we handled it in San Antonio (in 2018)," he said.
Asked what that might entail, Self playfully grinned and said, "They are my notes. Not your notes."
Whatever is in those notes, though, something else will animate KU's appearance here. While Self often has described the Elite Eight as the hardest round of the tournament, he promptly changed emphasis after KU advanced to New Orleans.
Somewhat remarkably, the virtuoso of persuasion and inspiration publicly stressed that this plateau isn't good enough.
Not for a program with the most victories in NCAA Division 1 men's history (2,355) whose first coach happened to be the inventor of the game, James Naismith.
"I'm the caretaker of the most historic program that's ever been," he said.
As such, Self is embracing what might be considered a burdensome approach.
"I don't want to put our program down," he said, "but Villanova has won a couple here recently."
Noting that the other semifinalists, Duke and North Carolina, each have won two since KU last did, Self continued:
"So I do think for our program — it is without question one of the top programs in the country; I mean nobody can debate that at all — but for it to be thought of as the equal of anybody else's, we've got to cut down nets on Monday night," he said. "We need to do more of that. Because we can stack up against anybody in any particular area.
"But when you talk about total number of national championships, we are behind, obviously, some of the other bluebloods that we compete with."
Indeed, in the NCAA Tournament era, UNC has won six and Duke five; KU and Villanova have three apiece. Others with more than KU: UCLA (11); Kentucky (eight); Indiana (five) and Connecticut (four).
So, yes, this game between two Hall of Fame coaches and renowned programs stands for something more than one result:
It's about Self and his team demonstrating 'Nova and Wright don't have the whammy over them, first of all. But it's also something more substantial for a program with a uniquely rich history ... that has only won two national titles since 1952.
"For the program and the historic nature of it," Self said, "I think it certainly would add something very significant to it."
