Big 12 Basketball: Bruce Weber, Scott Drew lead 2019 Coach of the Year race
By Chris Kern
3. Bill Self
Bill Self won the AP National Coach of the Year award in both 2009 and 2016 so Big 12 Coach of the Year isn’t a big deal for him. He has won the award six times including each of the past two seasons. Most years he wouldn’t even be considered for this award unless they were on top of the conference but the Jayhawks have dealt with more than their fair share of drama.
They started the season as the top-ranked team in the preseason with national championship aspirations. While that is still their goal they have had a lot of issues throughout the season that has made that look like a very difficult task.
The team has dealt with a lot of injuries most notably to their star center Udoka Azubuike. He has dealt with a variety of injuries during his time at Kansas but a wrist injury during practice cut his junior season to just nine games played. Marcus Garrett is another key player who has been injured but he is expected to return in the next week or so.
Losing two key players like that would be tough for any team to overcome but they have some other issues off of the court. The Silvio De Sousa investigation lasted a large part of the season before they decided to suspend him through the 2019-20 season. LeGerald Vick took a leave of absence the team a couple of weeks ago and his return is very much in question.
The play of freshman forward Ochai Agbaji has been a gamechanger for this team. He has only played 12 games so far this season as he was originally redshirting but since he has started playing he has been one of the three best players on this team. Freshman point guard Devon Dotson has been a huge part of this team’s success as he has been playing at a very high level recently.
Through all the ups and downs this season there has been one player they’ve been able to rely on each and every game and that is Dedric Lawson. Sure he has struggled at times but he has been this team’s best player almost every game. He is averaging 19.2 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. His ability to carry this team in big games makes him an easy pick to make an All-American team as well as a top candidate for various Big 12 and National end of season awards.
The Jayhawks have an extremely tough task on Saturday when they head to Lubbock to take on Texas Tech. Bill Self has found a way to win these games in the past and he will need to do so again to extend the Big 12 streak. It seems every year Kansas gets doubted and then they come out and win a game like this to keep the streak alive. If the Jayhawks are able to keep the streak alive Self will be a legitimate Big 12 Coach of the Year candidate and nobody should ever question him or the Jayhawks again.