College Basketball

Kansas coach Bill Self to miss Saturday's NCAA Tournament game vs. Arkansas

Updated Mar. 18, 2023 11:24 a.m. ET

Kansas coach Bill Self will miss Saturday's NCAA Tournament game against Arkansas as he continues to recover after a procedure to treat blocked arteries in his heart.

Self also missed the Jayhawks' first-round victory over Howard on Thursday. He has been with the team during its time in the tournament and has attended practice, but remains day-to-day when it comes to returning to the sidelines.

Assistant coach Norm Roberts will continue to serve as the acting head coach. Roberts offered the following update on Self:

"He’s doing well, he’s getting better all the time," Roberts said. "We’re hopeful, and everything is day-to-day with him, but if you ask our guys, he got after them pretty good today so he was doing really well."

Self went to the emergency room the night of March 8, shortly after watching the Jayhawks in a final shootaround ahead of their Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal. He was complaining of chest tightness and concerns with his balance.

Dr. Mark Wiley, the chief of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Kansas Health System, said the 60-year-old Self underwent a standard heart catheterization and had two stents placed to help treat the blocked arteries.

Roberts coached the Jayhawks in the Big 12 Tournament. Roberts also served as acting coach earlier in the season, while Self was serving a school-imposed four-game suspension.

Kansas beat West Virginia and Iowa State in the Big 12 tourney with Roberts again on the bench before getting blown out 76-56 by seventh-ranked Texas in Saturday night’s championship game.

Self is 581-130 during two decades at Kansas, and 788-235 in 30 seasons as a head coach, which includes stops at Oral Roberts, Tulsa and Illinois. He led the Jayhawks to national titles in 2008 and last April.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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