Kansas basketball's Bill Self reacts to Joel Embiid’s finish in NBA’s MVP race during ESPN appearance

LAWRENCE — In New York earlier this week to receive the Winged Foot Award for the second time in his career, Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self also took time to do a radio appearance on ESPN’s "Keyshawn, JWill and Max Show."

Self, honored with the Winged Foot Award due to the Jayhawks’ national championship, reflected on the run his team made. He pointed to this title meaning a little more than the one in 2008 if that’s possible, because of how outside factors may have affected the season — such as the death of his father. The aftermath of the championship has been like floating on a cloud, Self said, and now he’s starting to come off of it some.

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“The wins never feel as good as the losses feel bad, never, until that one win,” Self said. “And that one win makes it feel better than all the losses combined felt bad. A lot of heartache to get there, but certainly it was worth it.”

Here are a few takeaways from Self’s discussion on the show.

How long Bill Self envisions he’ll continue to coach at Kansas

Given the surprise retirement announcement from Villanova coach Jay Wright after the season, Self was asked about the potential of any such surprise coming from him as well. Self downplayed that, and noted that he plans to be around for a while. Self allowed he just doesn’t know how long that while will be.

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“As you guys have talked about, probably, many times, our game’s changing and it’s changing in a big way,” Self said. “But certainly, right now, there’s so much uncertainty in our game. But one thing is certain, it’s still coaching basketball.”

How Bill Self is adapting to the new NIL, transfer landscape

Self acknowledged that, right now, he doesn’t know if he has anything figured out. He added, too, that he doesn’t think anyone knows how everything will look with name, image and likeness and transfer rules in a couple years. And Self agrees with the appearance that things are out of control at the moment.

“I don’t know how to put the genie back in the bottle, though,” Self said. “I know the NCAA came out with some stuff (Monday), you guys may have talked about it some, to try to monitor some things where it reduces the opportunities for recruiting incentives or inducements. But I don’t know how you do this moving forward.”

Self said as well that, in theory, the transfer portal is great. It better allows for freedom of movement for athletes. But he thinks, too, that there have been numerous unintended consequences from its inception and NIL further complicates matters.

Self, though, does think while there’s uncertainty right now it will be something everyone can work through. He believes college athletics will survive, in some way, shape or form.

How Self views Joel Embiid finishing second in NBA MVP race

Self was disappointed to see Embiid, a former Kansas athlete, not win the NBA’s award for the league’s most valuable player. From his conversations with Embiid, Self understands what it would have meant to Embiid to earn the honor. But Self both thinks Embiid will have more opportunities to win it moving forward, and that this award doesn’t define the kind of player Embiid is.

“He’s already had a Hall of Fame-type career, and I still think he’s scratching the surface of what he can be,” Self said about Embiid. “… (Nikola) Jokic deserved it. I mean … (Jokic) had an unbelievable year. But still, though, to me, when you think about the best five players in the world, Joel Embiid is definitely one of them.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Bill Self reacts to Joel Embiid’s finish in NBA MVP race, NIL on ESPN