KU’s Bill Self says Duke’s Coach K contacted him in January after Self’s dad died
Duke coaching legend Mike Krzyzewski contacted fellow Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Bill Self to offer a heartfelt message on Jan. 21.
“I just saw him. Hubert (Davis, North Carolina coach), Jay (Villanova coach) and I talked a little bit (with Coach K in a network TV interview Thursday),” Self, KU’s 19th-year coach, said Thursday at the Caesars Superdome, site of the 2022 Final Four.
“The last time I talked to, texted with Coach K was when my father passed. That’s the last time I’ve spoken with him,” Self added.
Bill Self Sr. died on Jan. 20, at the age of 82.
“I actually did tell him (Coach K), ‘I’m really pulling for you unless you are playing us,’’’ Self told reporters Thursday. “Boy, it would be nice to play one more game.”
Krzyzewski will be coaching the final game of his career either Saturday or Monday. The Blue Devils will meet fellow ACC member/rival North Carolina in a Final Four semifinal game Saturday. It will be the second game of the day. KU will take on Villanova at 5:09 p.m. Saturday at the Superdome in the other national semifinal.
Duke coach Krzyzewski currently has an 8-5 record against Kansas. Aside from a possible meeting in the NCAA final on Monday, the next meeting between the teams would come in the 2022 Champions Classic, which would be the first game of Jon Scheyer’s Duke coaching career.
Krzyzewski has coached all 13 games in the KU-Duke series, against three KU coaches: Self, Roy Williams and Larry Brown. Scheyer succeeds “Coach K,” as he’s known, as head coach of the Blue Devils next season.
In a wild twist, 11 of the meetings between the teams have been contested on neutral floors. KU is 0-1 versus Duke in Allen Fieldhouse and 0-1 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. KU has won four of the last six games in the series. The Jayhawks dropped the last meeting, 68-66, in 2019 at Madison Square Garden.
KU is 3-3 against Krzyzewski in the NCAA Tournament (1-2 in the Final Four), 2-1 in the Champions Classic, 0-1 at the Maui Invitational, 0-1 in the Preseason NIT and 0-1 at both Allen Fieldhouse and Cameron.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 4:33 PM with the headline "KU’s Bill Self says Duke’s Coach K contacted him in January after Self’s dad died."
