At his Tuesday press conference leading up to Saturday’s national semifinals – during which Bill Self heard a more firm confirmation of Oklahoma State’s Sean Sutton being out as the Cowboys’ head coach – the Kansas University coach again diffused rumors that he’d be a candidate for the opening.

“If it has been done, I feel bad for Sean, because I feel his team got better over the course of the year. I do care deeply about my alma mater. Spent 11 years of my life at OSU,” Self said. “But nobody from there has contacted me, and if they did, I would strongly recommend they move in another direction.”

After the press conference, while exiting Hadl Auditorium, he was even more firm, saying “I’m not a candidate.”

Added KU athletics director Lew Perkins Tuesday afternoon: “Nobody has called me from Oklahoma State, which I would assume they would have done that. We’re going to do everything we possibly can to have Bill be our basketball coach here for a long, long time. I see no reason why that won’t happen.”

For more on this story, including full coverage of Tuesday’s media session with Self and the KU players in Allen Fieldhouse, log back onto KUSports.com and pick up Wednesday’s Journal-World.