Dallas ? Kansas University will find out at 5 p.m. today where it is headed and what team it will be playing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Jayhawks will watch the CBS Selection Sunday Show from a suite in American Airlines Center immediately after today’s conference final against Texas.
“The way these guys have played winning 14 of 15, they have played well enough to be a top-four seed,” KU coach Bill Self said of his squad. “Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have a chance to play well to impact that.”
The first-round sites that have Thursday-Saturday games are: San Diego; Salt Lake City; Jacksonville, Fla.; and Greensboro, N.C. The sites with Friday-Sunday games are: Dallas; Auburn Hills, Mich.; Dayton, Ohio; and Philadelphia.
“I don’t care about that,” Self said of location.
Some say the Jayhawks still have a shot of playing first-round games in Dallas. Self doesn’t think that’ll happen. The top four seeds in each regional are accorded sites closest to home.
“I don’t think they’d give two teams an advantage who played two games here. I think they’d give it to Texas,” Self said. “I can’t see us seeded higher than Texas. They have more impressive nonconference wins.”
It’s believed Memphis will join Texas in Dallas.
Self didn’t know if today’s Big 12 tournament final would have an impact on KU’s eventual seed.
“When I was at Illinois and we won (final), they projected us as a 2. We were a 4. They had to do it before the game. They had to give you a seed if you won and a seed in case you lost,” Self said.
Some national pundits expect KU to land in San Diego or Salt Lake City.
¢ Arthur’s team wins: Darrell Arthur, a 6-foot-9 senior forward from Dallas’ South Oak Cliff High, scored 21 points and had 13 rebounds in a 76-58 Class 4A state title victory over Fort Worth Dunbar on Saturday. It’s the second straight state crown for Arthur, who is considering attending KU, Texas, SMU or Baylor.
¢ No discomfort: Russell Robinson scored 13 points, all in the second half, against Nebraska. He said his slow start had nothing to do with getting used to playing with seven stitches above his right eye.
He was stitched up Friday night after getting clipped by Oklahoma State’s JamesOn Curry.
“It wasn’t blurry. It didn’t affect me at all. I just played terrible the first half,” he said. “One good thing is, this (rout) didn’t stretch us for the Texas game. That will be to our advantage, I hope.”
¢ Hawkins hot: Jeff Hawkins, who hit three of six threes, hit 11 of 17 threes in three victories this season versus NU. Hawkins was 5-for-5 from three-point range in a 96-54 victory in Lawrence and 3-for-6 in a 69-48 victory in Lincoln, Neb.
“I don’t know why I shoot so well against Nebraska,” Hawkins said. “Luckily, my teammates gave me the ball.”
Of today’s showdown, he said: “It’s a big game. It’ll show who is the best team in the Big 12.”
¢ Don’t tell Nielsen: Julian Wright, on whether he used to view the Selection Sunday Show: “I heard about it, but I never did watch it,” the Chicago native said.
¢ Notes: Mario Chalmers, who had two steals, has 84 for his career. He’s two shy of tying Nebraska’s Cookie Belcher’s conference record for steals as a freshman. : KU advances to the tourney final for the first time since 2002, when KU lost to Oklahoma, 64-55, in Kemper Arena. KU last won the crown in 1999. : KU is 3-1 in Big 12 title games. : KU has won six straight and 14 of 15 versus NU. : Chalmers tied a career high with six boards. : Hawkins scored 11 for his first double-figure outing since netting 11 on Feb. 8 at Nebraska.
¢Kansas University leads the all-time series with Nebraska, 156-71. KU has won three in a row and 12 of the last 13 meetings dating to the final meeting of the 1999 season. The last NU win was a 74-55 victory in 2004 in Lincoln, Neb.
¢KU is 45-7 versus NU in Allen Fieldhouse and 13-16 in Bob Devaney Center.
¢KU’s Bill Self is 5-1 versus NU; Barry Collier 1-9 against Kansas.
¢Collier is 82-81 overall in six years at NU.
¢Mario Chalmers is second in the Big 12 Conference and 37th nationally in 2.4 steals per game. He’s scored 20 or more points in KU’s last two games.
¢Brandon Rush leads all Big 12 freshmen in scoring at a 13.1 clip.
¢The Huskers, who lost to Iowa State, 88-75, on Tuesday in Lincoln, are off to their best start in six seasons under Collier. NU went 11-3 in 1995-96. NU finished that regular season 16-13, then went on to win the postseason NIT.
¢Nebraska recorded a season-high 16 three-pointers against North Carolina A&T, two off the school record of 18 set in 2002 against No. 1 Kansas. NU’s 36 attempts from three-point range were also one off the school record of 37 also set against KU in 2002. That victory over A&T was NU’s 350th in Devaney Center.
¢Sophomore guard Joe McCray’s three-pointer with 5.6 seconds left beat Oklahoma, 59-58, on Jan. 7 in Lincoln. McCray’s shot was Nebraska’s first game-winning field goal with less than 15 seconds remaining in a contest since Nate Johnson’s running right-hander off the glass with 12 seconds left gave NU a 71-70 victory over Creighton on March 16, 2004, in the opening round of the NIT in Omaha. McCray’s bucket came with the fewest ticks left on the clock for any game-winning field goal since at least 2000-01.
¢ The Huskers are 11-2 at home this year. The team was 12-1 in 2004 to open the year and went 11-1 in 1992-93.
¢ With a 10-3 mark through non-league play, the Huskers won at least 10 nonconference regular-season games for the second time since the formation of the Big 12 (also 2003-04 season, when Nebraska went on to reach second round of NIT).
¢ Nebraska has held six of its 15 opponents to 60 or fewer points this season, and owns a 6-0 record in those contests. NU is 39-11 under Collier when holding foes to 60 or fewer points.
¢ Nebraska’s 16-man roster entering the season included nine players (six newcomers, three red-shirt players) who never had played a minute in a Husker uniform during a regular-season game.
