Kansas is facing an internal crisis. Their assistant coach, Joe Dooley, was arrested Saturday night after being suspected of driving under the influence, failure to stop at an accident, and transporting an open container. He was released on his own recognizance on Sunday morning. Following this brush with the law, the Kansas management and Bill Self have decided to suspend Dooley with a strong-worded statement.

“We are aware that Assistant Coach Joe Dooley was arrested for driving under the influence. Joe exercised poor judgment and will be suspended for three weeks, effective immediately. Joe is remorseful, apologetic, and accepts the consequences of his actions,” Self said in a statement.

Hired in 2022, assistant coach Dooley is a key part of the program. He has been working with Self since 2003, but left to become a head coach at Florida Gulf Coast and later moved to East Carolina. Dooley returned to the program in 2022, first as a director of student-athlete development, but was moved to the bench last year.

Now, Dooley will be suspended until the January 13th game against Iowa State. He will miss games against Davidson, UCF, TCU, and West Virginia in the meantime. The hurdles just continue for Bill Self and Kansas. Their star and projected future lottery pick, Darryn Peterson, has been struggling with a quad injury. 

While Dooley’s absence won’t affect their on-court dynamic, their locker room mood will certainly experience a shift. However, Self maintained that they will address the issue.

“There’s really not much else to say because it just recently occurred,” Self told reporters at his regular press conference. “But that’s where we’re at. We’ll deal with it, he’ll deal with it. We’ll address it and make the most of it.”

As the program grapples with its assistant coach’s arrest, the team must remain focused on the court. In their final game of the year, the result will decide if Bill Self is satisfied with their start or not. 

Bill Self’s Verdict Hinges on Kansas’ Final Game of the Year

The Jayhawks defeated the Towson Tigers 73-49 on Tuesday night, improving to 9-3. Kansas does have a ranked win over Tennessee under its belt. But it has also lost ranked matchups to North Carolina, Duke, and the Huskies.

Kansas will next face Davidson before opening Big 12 play on the road against UCF on January 3. While it feels like a regulation matchup on paper, for Bill Self, the matchup will ‘tip the scales’ in judging their season so far. 

“I think from a record standpoint, considering we played what, was it eight of those games without DP so far, from a record standpoint, I think that would be a good record based on the quality of the schedule,” Self said ahead of the matchup.

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“This is one game, tip the scales one way or another. I don’t know if it does totally, but I will tell you this: 10 and three sounds a heck of a lot better than 9 and four. So, to me, this is a very important game.”

Even with the multiple ranked losses, Kansas has surged in the past two weeks. They dropped out of the AP Poll in week 3 but have jumped to No.17, their highest appearance. The primary reason for KU’s jump in the poll was its thrilling overtime victory over Quad 1 opponent NC State. Despite playing without Peterson during the latter stages of the second half, the Jayhawks pulled out one of their grittiest wins of the season.

They are the 8th-best defense on KenPom with an adjusted defensive efficiency of 92.2, while their attack has struggled. The clear effect of functioning without Darryn Peterson. Peterson single-handedly gives Kansas more defense, three-level scoring, creativity, and extraordinary gravity. However, he is unlikely to participate against Davidson as well after missing the last game with cramps.