LAHAINA, Hawaii — If the Kansas Jayhawks reach the Final Four like so many pundits predict, they’ll probably say their road began a few hundred yards from the beach here in Hawaii.
No, not on the hardwood of the Lahaina Civic Center, where Bill Self’s squad came-from-behind to beat No. 19 Vanderbilt in Wednesday’s championship game of the Maui Invitational. But rather in a first-floor meeting room at the $425 dollar-per-night Westin Hotel.
It was there that Self and a group of Kansas administrators summoned freshman Cheick Diallo around 10:25 a.m. local time. As the embattled forward walked through the door, Self rose to his feet.