Are you UPSET with SELF? ~ ONLY N OKLAHOMA

Bill Self.

Coach Self.

Grew up in Oklahoma.

Played some pretty heady basketball for Oklahoma State.

Coached ORU.

Coached Tulsa University. Took the Cane to Elite 8 and pushed the North Carolina Tar Heels to the edge before succumbing and just missing out on a FINAL FOUR for the Hurricane.

Coached Illinois.

Took over as head honcho for the Kansas Jayhawks and their storied basketball program.

T. Boone Pickens, gazillionaire deluxe, tried to lure Wild Bill back to Stillwater but Bill decided to stay put in Lawrence.

Although Self didn't move back to Oklahoma, you wonder if he ever wants to step foot in the state again. {I know he well, since his family still lives here!}

Why do I say that? How about I give you four reasons why, namely:

1. It was March 18th, 2005, around five years ago when the heavily favored JAYHAWKS were ambushed by the mighty squad from BUCKNELL.
2. The last two times Self brought his #1 Ranked Jayhawks to his alma mater, the ORANGE from aggie land knocked Kansas for a big LOSS.
3. [Stillwater Loss; 2 in a row!!]
   
4. And just hours ago,,, in the OK CITY NCAA REGIONAL at the Ford Center, Northern Iowa from the Missouri Valley Conference ended Self and the Jayhawks season with another SHOCKING DEFEAT.

And take a look at who hammered the final nail into the Kansas coffin.

Ali Farokhmanesh.

Ali who? Ali, you know, the kid who attended junior college his freshmen year because no D-1 wanted him on their team. Could you blame them? Maybe 5'10" tall, and not a great jumper, and not super quick. Gosh,, ya think there will be a recruiting RUN on Ali Farokhmanesh type players now? Hah! Don't count on it!

But "he can PLAY!", those who knew him kept saying. Well, his first juco coach was so impressed that HE didn't even play Ali. Poor Ali!

So he moved on to another junior college for his second year. That is where Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson saw something he liked in the "not your stereotypical Division I #2 shooting guard!"

Back to Self.
Having kind of a BAD STREAK here in Oklahoma performances, dontcha think?

Could it just be KARMA?
Payback for not returning to our roots (while being offered MILLION$ of Dollar$ to do it!) can be a very stinging, painful experience.