Kansas’ Self is totally thrilled

Bill Self of Kansas is a Final Four first-timer and he intends to act like one.

He’s ready for anything San Antonio throws at him.

In fact, there isn’t a dumb question he isn’t ready to answer.

“So you could put me answering questions in a dark room with the bright light shining on me for eight hours a day and I’d still love every second of it,” Self said Monday in a conference call of Final Four coaches.

The other guys -- Roy Williams (North Carolina), Ben Howland (UCLA), John Calipari (Memphis) -- have all taken schools to the Final Four before this season.

For Self, though, this is the breakthrough he has longed for after coming so close before with Tulsa, Illinois and Kansas. He guided those schools to the Elite Eight but never beyond.

Self doesn’t even mind that Kansas is the lowest-ranked of the top-seeded schools still playing. And that earns his school a Saturday matchup against North Carolina.

“I guess we can be the underdogs since we’re the fourth No. 1 seed,” Self said. “I guess that would be us. And Carolina would be the favorites, the overall No. 1 seed. But I really think in this situation there’s not much difference between any of the teams from a performance standpoint.”

Kansas is certainly breathing the biggest Final Four sigh of relief after narrowly escaping against Davidson in the Midwest Regional final Sunday. UCLA won the West by 19 points over Xavier, Memphis toyed with Texas in the South and North Carolina, in the East, sent Louisville packing by 10 points.

Kansas, though, would have been back in Lawrence had Jason Richards of Davidson made a three-point shot at the end of Sunday’s game. Kansas won by two points as Self watched the final shot from his knees.

Self can relax now . . . sort of.

The pressure of not getting to the Final Four can easily be replaced by not winning once you get there.

For now, though, this is bliss.

“I can’t imagine there’s a tougher game to lose than the Elite Eight game because a successful season in so many ways is envisioned by getting to the Final Four,” Self said.

-- Chris Dufresne