Self returning to Champaign for Maui relief game

• Myron Medcalf, ESPN Staff WriterAug 18, 2023, 06:20 PM ET

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  • Covers college basketball
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2011
  • Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

For the very first time in 20 years, Bill Self will go back to Champaign, Illinois, this time to help raise cash for the victims of the Maui fires.Self, who has actually not

coached a game in Champaign given that he left Illinois for Kansas in 2003, will lead the Jayhawks, No. 1 in ESPN’s Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings, versus the Battling Illini, the schools revealed on Friday.The exhibition will be held at the State Farm Center on Oct. 29 and air on the Big Ten Network. The proceeds will approach the Maui Strong Fund. The NCAA permits groups to play exhibits for charity with a waiver.The two schools had actually initially planned to hold a closed scrimmage before the season but chose to turn the event into a public exhibit to raise cash for Maui, where wildfires burned in the city of Lahaina starting last week. Officials have actually verified a minimum of 111 deaths with hundreds still missing as interaction services have actually been interrupted throughout the island, according to ABC News.Both Self and Illinois coach Brad Underwood have participated in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational, one of the

premier vacation competitions in college basketball, in recent years.Kansas is set to play in case this year, although tournament officials have said their prepare for the occasion are uncertain as a result of the fires.” For years, the Maui Invitational and the city of Lahaina have been extremely crucial to college basketball and our thoughts and prayers go to that whole neighborhood as they recuperate from such a tragic occasion,”Self stated in a declaration.”[ Underwood] and I went over how our private skirmish might become an exhibition game to raise money to benefit the so many impacted by the recent catastrophic fires in Maui. We both felt this would be a terrific way for our programs to create awareness to help this cause.”Caught up with an old good friend today To contribute to the ongoing relief efforts in Maui, Illinois and Kansas will play a charity exhibition game October 29 at State Farm Center. #Illini|#HTTO|#EveryDayGuys pic.twitter.com/HrGeKPrGsW!.?.!— Illinois Men’s Basketball (@IlliniMBB)August 18, 2023 Self’s choice to leave Illinois 20 years back was a significant domino that altered college basketball. Self, who has won two national titles at Kansas, accepted the task after Roy Williams left for North Carolina following his team’s loss in the 2003 national championship to Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse. Illinois then employed Bruce Weber, who led the program to the national title game in 2005. This season, Self will guide a Kansas team that returns key veterans, such as KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris, and includes Michigan move Hunter Dickinson, the No. 1 player in the portal per ESPN.”Seeing this on the news, the devastation, if we can do our part to make things a little easier, I’m a huge fan of that,”Underwood stated in a video with Self. “This will be a terrific concept.”Added Self:”It’s time for everyone to step up and do something for someone else that’s done so much for us throughout the years.

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