Bill Self has had a long career and successful. Finally got that second title…but his road wasn’t perfect…
2005 he had a first round loss to Bucknell
2006 he had a first round loss to Bradley
He gets his title in 2008…but then the timeline
2004 Elite 8
2005 Round of 64
2006 Round of 64
2007 Elite 8
2008 National Title
2009 Sweet 16
2010 R32 loss as #1 seed to Northern Iowa
2011 Elite 8 loss to VCU
2012 Runner-Up
2013 Sweet 16
2014 Round of 32 loss
2015 Round of 32 loss
2016 Elite 8
2017 Elite 8
2018 Final Four
2019 Round of 32 loss
2021 Round of 32 loss
2022 National Title
I know I know “how darreee yew bring this up! We is Kentuckkyyy, we ain’t supposed to compare ourselves to other coaches…!”
But here’s what I see…Bill Self has a team good enough to win a title every year. He’s had elite talent, so that’s not an excuse either. He doesn’t win a bunch of titles or Final Fours…14 years between titles. Always has a good seed and an easy road….a lot of first weekend losses.
But guess what? He won last night. When you have a team that can win a title yearly, eventually you’ll be in the right place at the right time because March is about luck…but also about having a team and coach good enough to do it.
I know Cal haters…”St Peters and the worst season of all time!!!!”
But also perspective that at a point this season, Cal had a team that beat those teams by 20-30 points. They lost it late…but in CBB you have to have a team that’s good enough and most every year we do…
2005 he had a first round loss to Bucknell
2006 he had a first round loss to Bradley
He gets his title in 2008…but then the timeline
2004 Elite 8
2005 Round of 64
2006 Round of 64
2007 Elite 8
2008 National Title
2009 Sweet 16
2010 R32 loss as #1 seed to Northern Iowa
2011 Elite 8 loss to VCU
2012 Runner-Up
2013 Sweet 16
2014 Round of 32 loss
2015 Round of 32 loss
2016 Elite 8
2017 Elite 8
2018 Final Four
2019 Round of 32 loss
2021 Round of 32 loss
2022 National Title
I know I know “how darreee yew bring this up! We is Kentuckkyyy, we ain’t supposed to compare ourselves to other coaches…!”
But here’s what I see…Bill Self has a team good enough to win a title every year. He’s had elite talent, so that’s not an excuse either. He doesn’t win a bunch of titles or Final Fours…14 years between titles. Always has a good seed and an easy road….a lot of first weekend losses.
But guess what? He won last night. When you have a team that can win a title yearly, eventually you’ll be in the right place at the right time because March is about luck…but also about having a team and coach good enough to do it.
I know Cal haters…”St Peters and the worst season of all time!!!!”
But also perspective that at a point this season, Cal had a team that beat those teams by 20-30 points. They lost it late…but in CBB you have to have a team that’s good enough and most every year we do…
