Bill Self opens up about Coach K's impact on the game, what he's meant to Self

Saturday’s Final Four has some of the biggest named programs and even bigger named head coaches. Two of the best to ever do it, Duke‘s Mike Krzyzewski and Kansas‘ Bill Self, while they did not get to face off against each other, featured with the latter pulling off a win. Coach K and his illustrious career came to an end, losing to in-state rival North Carolina.

Self was asked what Coach K has meant to college basketball during a recent press conference. He opened up on how much Krzyzewski has been able to accomplish over the years as he took over as one of the best coaches in the sport. Self even said the now-former Duke head coach has meant more to college basketball than any individual ever.

“In my time, since I’ve been involved as a coach, when I first got involved, Coach Smith and Coach Thompson were the two pillars,” Self said. “But as that mantel has shifted, basically in my coaching career he’s been the standard since I’ve been doing this. I’ve been coaching while he’s won all five national championships. I was a graduate assistant on the Kansas staff when he went to his first Final Four. I’ve been able to see it even though I was young.

But he’s meant as much to our sport as anybody in our sport has ever been. And he will be missed. I think to someone’s point earlier, I don’t think they’ll ever replace him. But I do think collectively there’s a lot of guys out there that can collectively carry the mantel, not individually that he has.”

Self went on to say Coach K needs to be involved with the future of college basketball as well. Being around the sport for such a long time, Krzyzewski could have a major impact on the decisions being made. Now out of coaching, Self wants to see a broader role for the legendary man going forward.

“But I’m hopeful for this — you know, we talked about college basketball a little bit ago,” said Self. “The best way to help college basketball is to get ideas and have people involved that understand college basketball. And a lot of times it can’t be from within the profession. So you have a couple of recently retired guys that have been as good at this at anybody that’s ever done it. I could see them playing a big role in us moving forward in a positive way.”

Self and Coach K faced off against each other five times throughout their careers, with the first coming during the 2011-2012 season. Duke has the 3-2 series leads in those matchups, with most of them being early season Champions Classic games.

Only once did the two meet up in the NCAA Tournament, with Kansas getting an Elite EIght win in 2018. So even though Coach K may have the overall bragging rights, Self can easily mention their lone March Madness matchup at Duke and Kansas.