No. 1 Kansas' Bill Self 'In Favor' of Alternate Process to Name NCAA Champion
March 16, 2020
The Kansas Jayhawks finished the 2019-20 NCAA men's basketball season at No. 1 in the final AP and USA Today Coaches polls before the NCAA tournament was canceled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Head coach Bill Self would accept the national championship trophy should it be decided by how the regular season concluded, though he acknowledged it wouldn't feel the same.
"I would think, from our standpoint, that would be great," Self told reporters during a teleconference on Monday. "But even if that occurred, and I don't think it would, there'd be a huge asterisk on our side and I'd be the first one to admit it. This would be the year I'd be all in favor because there's a great chance we'd be No. 1 in the country in most everything when all the rankings are turned in."
The 28-3 Jayhawks were riding a 16-game winning streak and had one more regular-season contest left on their schedule—a matchup with Oklahoma State on March 12.
KU won the Big 12 regular-season title outright when Baylor lost to unranked West Virginia 76-64 on March 7. The Jayhawks had their streak of 14 consecutive conference titles snapped last year with Texas Tech and Kansas State as co-winners.
The Big 12 announced Kansas senior big man Udoka Azubuike as Player of the Year and Kansas junior guard Marcus Garrett as Defensive Player of the Year on March 8.
Marleah Campbell @wibwMarleah"I want to tell you guys that if we go to the Final Four this year, I get to see her." Just over a week ago, #kubball senior Udoka Azubuike said in his senior night speech his mom, who lives in Nigeria, would come watch KU play if they made it to Atlanta. This one hurts. https://t.co/kLtzyfWYzV
"Nobody had a better season than we did," Self added Monday.
The NCAA announced its decision to cancel remaining men's and women's spring and winter championships on March 12:
NCAA vice president Dan Gavitt decided Sunday that 68-team March Madness brackets will not be released, Stadium's Brett McMurphy relayed.
CNN's latest numbers show 168,019 worldwide cases of the coronavirus with 6,610 global deaths. There are more than 4,000 people infected in the United States, and 70 people have died in the U.S.