ATLANTA (AP) — Bill Self brushed off becoming the winningest coach in Kansas basketball history, even as he surpassed the guy whose name is on the arena.
“It means I'm old,” the 61-year-old Self said with a slight grin. “And it means I've had a lot of really good players.”
Self claimed the top spot at one of college basketball's most storied programs Tuesday night when No. 1 Kansas held off Michigan State 77-69 at the Champions Classic in Atlanta.
Self improved to 591-143 in his 22nd season coaching the Jayhawks, pushing him past Phog Allen’s mark of 590-219 in 39 seasons on the Kansas sideline. Including stints at Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois, Self is two wins away from 800 in his career.
The Jayhawks, of course, play at Allen Fieldhouse — named in honor of the Hall of Fame coach whose brilliant career spanned most of first half of the 20th century.
They may have to put Self's name on the building, too.
“I hadn't thought about that at all,” he said of passing Allen's mark. “I'm certainly proud about it, but Phog Allen is still gonna be the all-time best coach at Kansas.”
That's not the way Self's players see it.
“It’s really special,” said 7-foot-2 center Hunter Dickinson, who led the Jayhawks with 28 points and 12 rebounds. “He’s never going to admit it. He’s always going to try to downplay it and give off the credit, but he’s the best coach in Kansas basketball history. We’re super special and fortunate to be playing for him.”
Fifth-year guard Dajuan Harris Jr. was proud to be part of his coach's record-setting night.
“Coach Self changed my life. All the credit goes to him,” Harris said. “I just want to be there for him because he’s been there for me."
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, the winningest coach in his school's history with 709, credited Self for getting the most out of players such as Zeke Mayo.
The Jayhawks guard was held to six points on 2-of-8 shooting, but he still managed to impact the game with 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“That’s a credit to Bill and his staff, how they get a kid who’s not playing well to do other things to help his team win,” Izzo said. “I give Bill a lot of credit for that. I did not get that out of a couple of my guys. They didn’t shoot it well, they didn’t rebound it well, and they didn’t guard it well.”
The Jayhawks are coming off a subpar season by their high standards.
A year ago, they opened at No. 1 and won 13 of their first 14 games, only to go 10-10 the rest of the way — including a 5-7 mark in their final dozen contests. The campaign ended with an ugly 89-68 blowout to Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Self and his players are intent on putting that disappointment firmly in the rearview mirror.
“I just want to win basketball games,” Harris said. "All he cares about is winning, and I care about winning. So I just want to keep winning games. It’s my last year with him, too, so I want to win every game with him.”
No matter what happens the rest of his career, Self's legacy at The Program That Phog Built is secure.
“I know the fans realize that he’s the best coach to come through here,” Dickinson said. “We're just trying to win more basketball games for him, trying to make him even better than he is.”
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Kansas head coach Bill Self reacts on the sidieline during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Michigan State, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore )
KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine (AP) — The four drones were designed to carry bombs, but instead the men of Ukraine's Khartia brigade pack them with food, water and handwarmers and launch them in darkness toward the front line, a 15-minute flight away.
The unit commander who goes by the callsign Kit, or “cat,” pilots the tiny uncrewed aircraft from a basement room he jokingly calls their Airbnb. Guided by the drone's night-vision camera, he drops the 10-kilogram (22-pound) packages one by one as close as he can to the position where as many as five infantrymen battle Russian forces in the late autumn chill. The delivery will hold them for two or three days.
That's about as far as Kit dares look into the future. He knows that the reelection of Donald Trump will change something in his life, but as far as he and other Ukrainian soldiers on the front are concerned, trying to figure out how is a game for politicians. For him, all that matters is the distance he measures in the meters (yards) that Russian forces advance or retreat in the front-line sector that is his responsibility.
“We are trying with all our might to destroy them and win back our territories, so that it does not go any further, so that there are no more destroyed cities and destroyed lives,” Kit said. “We need to focus on the present in our work and try to do it effectively in the here and now.”
But he cannot escape the sense of a gathering storm.
Russia is increasingly hitting the Kharkiv region with unstoppable, building-leveling glide bombs and swarms of drones and chipping away at territory there. Its troops are advancing in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Up to 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia's Kursk border region to help beat back Ukrainian forces there, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments.
Trump, who has called President Vladimir Putin “pretty smart” for invading Ukraine, has repeatedly criticized American backing of Ukraine. He characterized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “the greatest salesman on Earth” for winning U.S. aid.
Zelenskyy was among the first world leaders to publicly congratulate Trump, and said the two discussed how to end “Russian aggression against Ukraine” when they met in September.
Between now and Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, the Biden administration has said it will send as much aid to Ukraine as possible to help hold back Russian forces and possess a strong hand in any potential peace negotiations. But Russia is pressing just as hard for an advantage in what most believe are crucial weeks to come.
Aviator, a Khartia soldier launching the supply drones, said he can only do his job and hope for the best. His attention is fixed on how many hours remain before the coming dawn, when Russian forces will be able to spot the uncrewed aircraft and shoot them down. If his mission fails, he knows that the men he calls brothers will suffer.
“You feel you’re useful, that you are in the right place, that the lives and health of our brothers depend on your work," said Aviator, who returned to Ukraine from a job in Poland to join the army. "We’re just doing our job, we don’t have time to worry about the election.”
Tolstiy, who runs a drone repair workshop not far away, knows firsthand what happens to territory captured by Russia. A former infantryman, he fought in Bakhmut and watched the city fall to Russian forces who bombed it to rubble. He confessed that sometimes, reading the news makes him want to give up. But that's simply unthinkable.
“It’s like we’re in another world here,” he said. “When you see that your comrades are injured or killed, it motivates you.”
Lori Hinnant contributed from Kyiv.
Servicemen of Ukraine's Khartia brigade pack a Vampire drone with food and water to launch toward the frontline to Ukrainian positions near Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Ukraine's Khartia brigade officer, who goes by callsign Kit, left, sits while his soldiers pilot drones in a shelter on the frontline near Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Servicemen of Ukraine's Khartia brigade pilot drones in a shelter on the frontline near Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Servicemen of Ukraine's Khartia brigade pack a Vampire drone with food and water to launch toward the frontline to Ukrainian positions near Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A soldier of Ukraine's Khartia brigade, callsign Tolstiy, inspects a FPV drone in a drone repair workshop close to the front line in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
