So I have this idea. I run it by Reid Gettys, mostly because he's a lawyer and heck of a lot smarter than me. Also, because he played with Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon and has been calling college basketball games for 22 years now.
I don't always agree with his take. But I respect it.
"So," I ask, "what would you think about Bill Self coaching the Olympic men's basketball team?"
And to this, Reid Gettys chuckles. Gleefully.
"Let me make a statement you can quote me on," he replies. "Bill Self is the best coach on the planet."
Now I'm the one chuckling.
"I'm serious," he continues. "I would run out of adjectives trying to describe the job that I think Bill Self does coaching."
In fact, the more we talk about it, the more sense it starts to make. Team USA's current coach, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, says the 2012 Summer Games in London will likely be his last hoedown. If Coach K proved anything during his reign, it's that NBA players will toe the line for a college coach on the international stage — as long as it's the right one. Krzyzewski's led the USA to gold at Las Vegas (2007 FIBA Americas), Beijing (2008 Summer Olympics) and Turkey (2010 FIBA World Championship). He was also an assistant under Bobby Knight, his old mentor, with the 1984 gold medal winners and for Chuck Daly with the 1992 Dream Team.
One possible successor, Syracuse's Jim Boeheim — who was on the bench with Coach K during those '08 and '10 runs — said earlier this week that he's also giving up coaching Olympic basketball after London. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo's name is getting a lot of traction for 2016 and beyond; so is San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, Louisville's Rick Pitino and Kentucky's John Calipari.
But Self's name, curiously, not so much — which is strange, especially after the past six months. Gettys played on those great Phi Slama Jama teams at the University of Houston in the early '80s and has been covering Big 12 basketball since the league was formed. He says he's never seen a coach turn a patchwork into a masterpiece the way Self did with the 2011-12 Jayhawks.
"What he has done, historically, is Hall-of-Fame worthy," Gettys continues. "What he did this year (is) absolutely off the charts. I've watched hundreds of practices, I've never seen a team with a better understanding of what it is they're trying to do.
"I'm absolutely blown away with the job Bill Self did this year. And I watched Duke and I watched North Carolina and I watched Kentucky. Nobody got close to the job he did."
Look, there aren't really any wrong answers here; Izzo could probably show up with a roster of intramural fraternity types and cajole them to the quarterfinals. But among the nation's old-money NCAA powers, has anybody, over the past half-decade, gotten more mileage out of good players — not great players, but good — than Self?
"You're not talking about what he's done with Michael Jordan or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or LeBron James — he's done it with guys that aren't making it in the (NBA)," Getty says. "Isn't that remarkable? And I'm not belittling those guys, but that's just staggering. I'm here in Houston, and I read all these articles about how Marcus Morris can't play, and I'm like, 'Are you kidding me?'
"What he did with that team … I was there (last) November, and he's going, 'I just don't know if we're going to be any good.' Yeah, (you were) a hair away from a national championship."
The schedule demands of USA Basketball probably favor a current college coach over an NBA peer, even one as accomplished as Popovich. But the man pulling the strings for Team USA also needs a temperament that translates to hardened professionals, grown men with agendas and entourages.
You're asking millionaires to be patriotic, to cut into their summer vacations, to buy in. Does Self have the psychological chops? The patience?
"You know, he's demanding, (yet) he knows when to joke with his kids," Gettys says. "But he's not a high-emotion, rah-rah, I'm-going-to-motivate-you, I'm-going-to-be-the-energy-for-our-team (type). … You simply can't be the energy for your team with the emotion that those guys have and the motivation (the players) don't have. I don't think you can be a 'rah-rah' guy and be a pro coach."
OK, so Frank Martin might not be the ideal fit. But Self? Well …
"That translates," Gettys continues. "I don't care who you're coaching. And I think Coach K has gone a long way toward opening (USA Basketball executive director) Jerry Colangelo's eyes — that it doesn't have to be Phil Jackson or Jerry Sloan, that you can go get a Mike Krzyzewski or Bill Self and have the same success and, arguably, even more."
Because it's not just about pushing buttons or balancing egos. At some point, you're also going to have to scheme your way out of trouble, in a tight situation, with the hopes and expectations of millions of Americans strapped to your back.
Over the last five NCAA tournaments, Izzo's record in the Big Dance is 13-5; Pitino's is 10-5.
Self sports a record of 17-4, a winning percentage of .810. You don't think he can handle the Spaniards in Rio? The best coach on the planet deserves a chance to prove his mettle on the planet's biggest stage.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com
