One Un-Shining Moment

 The Kansas Jayhawks cut down the nets last night in the Superdome, celebrating both a national title and a stirring comeback from 15 points down at the half to North Carolina.

I suppose this is the part where the Blob brings precip to the parade, as it has a habit of doing.

("No kidding. You ruin everything," you're saying)

Guilty.

But I'm cursed with a pretty lively memory, and it occasionally is an inconvenient sidekick. And so I couldn't see photos of Kansas coach Bill Self up on the ladder this morning, and not think of a couple folks the teevees failed to mention because they didn't fit the triumphant narrative.

Namely, a former Kansas assistant named Kurtis Townsend and a former Adidas rep named T.J. Gassnola -- the latter of whom was last seen turning state's evidence for the feds in return for a lighter sentence.

This happened in 2018, after Kansas was among those got caught up in a federal case involving apparel reps steering prospective clients to schools with whom they did business. In the course of the investigation, Gassnola got caught on a wiretap telling Townsend he paid a friend of Deandre Ayton's $15,000 to provide Ayton's mom with a job and a house if her son agreed to sign with Kansas.

"We'll see what we can do," Townsend replied, in so many words.

Worse for Self, Gassnola also testified he told Self himself he felt bad because Ayton wound up going to Arizona instead. Which means Self was aware of the shenanigans. Even worse, Kansas was also in the mix to buy Zion Williamson's services; Williamson instead wound up at Duke, where it's never been proven but can be assumed he got a sweeter deal.

Sean Miller lost his job at Arizona, eventually, over the Ayton business. Another Adidas rep -- Merl Code, who went to federal prison for his part in the scheme -- subsequently wrote a book in which he claims Self knew about the Williamson negotiations, too.

"Bill Self was constantly kept abreast from his own coaches and the higher-ups at Adidas in terms of what was happening in the Jayhawks' pursuit of Zion," Code told Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated a couple of months ago. "It's all in the transcripts of the intercepted text messages. But, again, the jury never saw or heard any of it ..."

Now, you can say the fact Kansas didn't land either Ayton or Williamson means Self refused to play ball. And Gassnola and Code are just a couple of jailbirds, so who would believe a word they say? 

Except Gassnola's deal with the prosecutors means he had every incentive to tell the truth. And Code's already in prison, so what does he have to gain by making stuff up?

In the meantime, congratulations to Self and his Jayhawks. Maybe he really is as pure as the driven snow.

Forgive me, if so, if I question the quality of driven snow these days.