KANSAS CITY — Kansas coach Bill Self was the most popular man at Big 12 media day, but for all of the wrong reasons.
The Jayhawks, picked to win the conference this season according to the coaches’ preseason poll, was hit with a notice of allegations last month by the NCAA stemming from the FBI’s investigation into college basketball corruption.
“I’m probably more excited about getting to basketball this year than I have been in most years,” Self said during his opening statement to the media on Wednesday.
Among the allegations were five Level 1 violations, including the lack of institutional control.
In attorney James Gatto’s closing argument in the federal case, he connected Adidas consultant T.J. Gassnola to Self. Gassnola was sentenced to probation for his role in pay-for-play schemes.
Gatto said Gassnola allegedly organized a $20,000 payment to the guardian of Silvio De Sousa after Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend allegedly requested it.
De Sousa, a sophomore forward for the Jayhawks was cleared to play this season by the NCAA.
“Certainly the things that you just asked will be things that will be answered at the appropriate time, whenever it can be answered,” Self said when asked about his relationship with Gassnola. “Certainly this is not the time for that.”
Self went on to say that he continues to have the backing of Kansas and that the last thing he’s worried about is how his legacy will look once the investigation is complete.
“As far as my legacy or whatever, that doesn’t even register with me,” Self said. “I probably know me better than anybody else knows me. I know the people that I worked with over the years know me.
“I know that we have to get through this, and we’ll get through this and I’ll be very happy when it is behind us. My legacy is the least of my concerns right now. I just want to do the best job I can coaching at a place that I absolutely love.”
No more flopping
Three major rule changes will be adapted this season into men’s college basketball.
The 3-point line will be moved back to the international distance of 22 feet, 1 3/4 inches.
The shot clock will reset to 20 seconds rather than a full 30 seconds when a team grabs an offensive rebound.
The third concerns flopping, or the act of pretending to be fouled when there is actual little contact made.
Two years ago, the NBA began to hand out fines for players charged with flopping in games and now the NCAA will begin to hand out technical fouls to teams charged with flopping more than once in a game.
“The Rules Committee discussed this for a couple hours, from what I was told, and decided they wanted to be severe because they want it out of the game,” said Curtis Shaw, the Big 12’s coordinator of officials.
Flopping not only covers a defensive player trying to draw a charge by falling to the floor.
It also covers an offensive player taking a jump shot who falls to the floor to act like he was fouled on the shot, as well as any offensive player who snaps his head back while dribbling the ball up the floor to make it look like he was hit by a defender.
“On all three of these, they are judgment,” Shaw said.
WVU forward Derek Culver said Bob Huggins recently went over all of the rule changes with his players, but said he’s never had any interest in flopping.
“I did it one time in AAU when I played for (Ohio Basketball Club),” Culver said. “We were playing the Atlanta Celtics and I flopped when their big man came down the middle.
“Well, actually they tried to say I flopped, but I really was just trying to take a charge. That will be my first and last charge. I really don’t want to do that anymore.”
One of a kind
Huggins has traditionally used media day to make some sort of fashion statement, whether it is wearing a bow tie or a letterman’s jacket in past years.
On Wednesday, the WVU coach wore a custom vest to go along with his black slacks and blue-and-white collared shirt.
The front of the vest was black, but the back was white with a collage of WVU logos, the Mountaineer mascot and WVU football helmets.
“I outgrew the original vest, so I had someone make it bigger,” Huggins said. “They had the material for the back laying around, so they just took the back out and put this in. It’s one of a kind.”
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