2.1 Seconds Can Change Careers (and lives)

“I don’t think just because a guy makes a guarded shot with 2.1 seconds left makes me any different than if he hadn’t made the shot.” That’s what Kansas basketball coach Bill Self said this morning in a press conference at San Antonio’s Alamo-dome.

Self is wrong. The shot did make a difference. A big difference.

Oklahoma State, where Self once played, has made overtures of paying him millions and millions. Boone Pickens gives OSU options many schools don’t have. OSU appears to want Self. They leaked their interest before the championship game last night, but winning that game did not hurt Self’s career.

Millions of dollars will come his way thanks to a 3-point shot with 2.1 seconds left in regulation play. In overtime his Jayhawks played with all the momentum of a winner while Memphis played knowing they had let the championship slip away.

Is Self a better coach for having won?

Yes. I could argue that he’s now been there and done that. That alone forces the “yes” answer. He is a different coach, a different man - all because his player made the shot. Calipari is less of a coach for having lost, too. His team didn’t sink free throws. They didn’t manage the clock well with 16 seconds remaining. They didn’t defend the final inbound pass in regulation. They didn’t defend that final shot taken with 2.1 second remaining. Their failure is Calipari’s failure, while the Jayhawk’s success is Self’s success. That’s just how it works.

Self’s destiny will be different because of 2.1 seconds. Oddly enough, OSU once had a famed basketball coach in Eddie Sutton. Coach Sutton’s destiny changed when he was seen drunk. I don’t know how long it took him to get drunk, but it only took moments for his career to come crashing down around his drunken head. His son, unable to live in the shadow of his famous father, resigned. Now, Self is the golden boy of coaching at the ripe old age of 45.

Bill Self could go to OSU and perhaps coach there until he’s old. Or he might be able to stay at Kansas and coach until he’s old. Either way, a few zeros are added to his salary because his player hit a shot with 2.1 second remaining.

Sometimes fortunes and lives rise and fall by the slimmest of margins.