Jay Williams, Seth Greenberg critical of Bill Self's postgame comments about looking ahead

Bill Self turned heads during the postgame press conference on Saturday after Kansas suffered a season-ending 89-68 loss to Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. When a reporter asked Self if he was thinking about next season yet, the Kansas head coach gave a brutally honest answer.

“I think for the last month, I’ve been thinking about next season, to be honest,” Self said. “Not in the moments during the game, but obviously, we played — we had eight guys on scholarship and we play — I mean, that were healthy there late.

“Injuries are part of the game. That’s not an excuse. But we could have done a much better job as a staff of putting more guys out there that we could play. And so that’s something I’ve thought about for a long time.”

Self received no shortage of criticism online for his postgame comments. Many fans interpreted Self’s statement as unfair to his current team. They weren’t alone in their beliefs. On Sunday, ESPN’s College GameDay crew weighed in on Self’s statements, starting with Jay Williams.

“Knowing Bill, I understand Bill, but I think when you lead your line, or whatever you’re articulating — your headline — with that, that’s the wrong way to do it,” Williams said. “That, in essence, kind of throws your team under the bus.

“It makes a former player think that you kind of checked out on the team even though I know that not to be the case, because I am a former player. But, I think the way that translates to the public, it sends the wrong message. And I think if Bill could do that again, I think he would do that differently.”

Kansas had once been one of the top teams in college basketball, entering the year as the preseason No. 1 team. However, a string of injuries caused the team to go just 4-4 over its final eight games ahead of March Madness.

While Seth Greenberg understands Self’s frustration with the way the season unfolded, he also believes the 61-year-old head coach crossed a line.

“I know Bill. I know how he is. I know what he meant. Basically, he always gets a pass. Bill Self gets a pass because he is a great guy. Did he misspeak? Yeah. Would he regret that? Yeah. But, let me ask you this, if another guy said that, would you give him a pass?” Greenberg said. “He should come back and say, ‘No, that was taken out of context. That’s not what I really meant.’ If I was Bill Self, I would do that… He misspoke and and whether it’s context or out of context, he did misspeak, that needs to be addressed.”

Jay Bilas adds context to Bill Self comments

Not everybody on the panel took a stance against Self. ESPN’s Jay Bilas believes the quote was taken out context.

“What what we’re really saying is don’t answer the question that’s asked of you, right? Because the question was, are you looking ahead to next season? The season’s over when he was asked the question,” Bilas said.

“Every coach plans for the next year during the season. He didn’t say, ‘Hey, look, I checked out on my team. I’m thinking about next year.’ He didn’t say that, nor did he imply it. But, when you show the soundbite without the question, which is what media does, it’s not anybody’s fault, people can go into that direction.”