Kansas University, which clinched the Big 12 Tournament title earlier Sunday with an 84-74 win over Texas in Kansas City, now heads to Omaha to open the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed for the second straight year.
The Jayhawks, who finished at 31-3, will face Portland State, 23-9 overall and 14-2 in Big Sky play, defeated Northern Arizona for an automatic bid Wednesday night.
Should KU advance from Thursday to Saturday, the Jayhawks would get the winner between No. 8 seed UNLV, winners of the Mountain West, and No. 9 seed Kent State, who won the MAC title.
There’s plenty of other storylines in KU’s Omaha pod, too. Playing in the Midwest regional as well is Kansas State, which earned an 11-seed. The Wildcats face sixth-seeded Southern Cal. KU defeated USC 59-55 in Los Angeles in December, but the matchup at-hand for the Trojans pits K-State freshmen Bill Waker and Mike Beasley against USC’s O.J. Mayo. Mayo and Walker were teammates for three seasons at North College Hill High in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The rest of the Midwest region includes…
2-seed – Georgetown
3-seed – Wisconsin
4-seed – Vanderbilt
5-seed – Clemson
7-seed – Gonzaga
10-seed – Davidson
12-seed – Villanova
13-seed – Siena
14-seed – Cal State-Fullerton
15-seed – UMBC
The winners of the first two rounds in Omaha advance to the regionals the following weekend in Detroit.
For more on this story, including full postgame coverage from Sunday and NCAA Tournament coverage, log back onto KUSports.com and pick up Monday’s Journal-World.
