Woodling: Self due a bonus for KU’s success

Dribbling into the free-throw lane while wondering which will come first — a $3 gallon of gasoline or five-minute breaks for TV commercials during the NCAA Tournament? …

  • By my calculations, Kansas University men’s basketball coach Bill Self is due a bonus of about $54,000 — or five months salary — based on this season’s performance.

Self’s annual salary is about $130,000, and his contract calls for two months’ additional salary for winning the Big 12 Conference regular-season championship, another two months for his players having at least a 60 percent graduation rate and a month’s salary for earning an NCAA Tournament berth.

All that is just the tip of the iceberg, however, because Self’s total compensation package is at least $1.3 million. …

  • Reportedly, Self and KU women’s coach Bonnie Henrickson weren’t overjoyed when boss Lew Perkins told them he was dropping KU’s long-standing shoe and apparel contract with Nike and accepting an offer from adidas.

Nike’s basketball shoes are so prestigious that Self and Henrickson are worried their unavailability will damage recruiting. How many prospects want to hear they can’t wear Michael Jordan shoes at Kansas? Let’s face it, adidas is known for its track shoes, not its basketball footwear.

Sources say Perkins offered Nike an opportunity to beat the adidas offer, but Nike declined, apparently figuring it didn’t need a Kansas University connection to maintain its cachet. …

  • Although neither the amount nor the length of the adidas deal have leaked, KU reportedly has worked out a $40 million deal with ESPN Regional to pay for the new Allen Fieldhouse scoreboard that will feature four video boards. Look for more revolving ad signage in the fieldhouse next season, too. …
  • Posted on the KUsports.com Web site is a rumor Perkins has asked for an early payout of the $1.3 million bonus he contractually is obligated to receive for staying through June 2009. If true, it only fuels speculation Perkins, who turned 60 last week, is considering retirement and moving to South Carolina, his favorite vacation spot. …
  • The NCAA women’s basketball committee may have to rethink the way it determines regional assignments. All four of this year’s sites were attendance disasters, with the possible exception of Tempe, Ariz., where the first-night crowd was listed as 8,213.

A mere 3,143 showed up in Kansas City, Mo., for the UConn-Stanford and Michigan State-Vanderbilt doubleheader Sunday night and just 2,475 for Tuesday night’s final. What was the NCAA thinking when it agreed to allow K.C. to host a regional in decrepit Municipal Auditorium? …

  • Who do I like to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship? Louisville. The Cardinals still have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Michigan State is in the same no-pressure situation, but Louisville has more weapons.

Of course, winning it all will put the Cards on the hot seat next season because they’ll have a solid nucleus returning and Kansas transfer David Padgett eligible after a red-shirt year. And we all know what can happen when you’re ranked No. 1 in the preseason. …

  • Poor Roy Williams. If North Carolina wins the NCAA championship, people will say Williams won it with Matt Doherty’s recruits. And if North Carolina loses, they’ll say he blew it because he had the most talent. Williams can’t win by winning, and he can’t win by losing. …
  • That terrible traveling call against Villanova’s Allan Ray in the North Carolina game might have been the worst toot in the NCAA Tournament since Jim Burr whistled KU’s Keith Langford for a phantom foul when KU met Georgia Tech in the 2004 Elite Eight. Tom O’Neill, who has worked many a KU game in the past, made the bogus call on Ray. …
  • Note that the two schools that played for the NIT championship — South Carolina and Saint Joseph’s — fell to Kansas during the regular season. KU walloped Saint Joseph’s, 91-51, and edged the Gamecocks, 64-60. Both games were in Allen Fieldhouse. O’Neill, incidentally, was one of the refs in the St. Joe’s game. …
  • I’m sure you noticed the Big 12 Conference popped few buttons in the NCAA Tournament. Five of the six Big 12 teams selected lost to lower seeds, although No. 6 Texas did knock off No. 3 Gonzaga before falling to No. 7 West Virginia. The Big 12 had produced at least two regional finalists each of the last three seasons. …
  • Now that rehashing the Bucknell disaster has waned, the paramount question is next season’s starting five. Surely all three of the incoming freshmen who participated in the McDonald’s All-American game won’t be starters in 2005-2006. Or will they? Oh, well, we’ll know in about eight months. …
  • Finally, on a somber note, Kansas University athletic department personnel and those of us in the KU media are grieving for Rick Plumlee, a Lawrence resident who has covered the Jayhawks for the Wichita Eagle for more than 25 years. Plumlee’s 6-year-old grandson, Jackson, was killed when he was run over by a trash truck Tuesday in suburban Dallas.