Nick KrugThe Kansas men’s basketball team was one of four programs to receive a No. 1 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday, bringing the Jayhawks’ total to 15 1 seeds all-time and nine in 18 tournaments under head coach Bill Self.
It marks the first time since 2018 that Kansas (28-6) has been seeded on the top line, and the Jayhawks will open this year’s tournament run at 8:57 p.m. Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas, on TruTV against the winner of Tuesday’s First Four game between No. 16 seeds Texas Southern and Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
Kansas is 39-13 all-time as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and 14-0 all-time against No. 16 seeds.
While Self will be the first to tell you that seeds don’t matter anywhere near as much as how a team plays in the Big Dance, he did admit on Sunday that the program’s run of success leading up to the NCAA Tournament each year impressed even him.
“I listened to (Gonzaga coach Mark) Few the other day and he was talking about how proud he was of his program for getting a 1 seed for like the fifth time in seven years or whatnot, which he should be,” Self said following the release of this year’s bracket. “And then someone told me this would be our 10th in 16. That’s pretty good. That’s pretty strong. Although seeds don’t matter once you get them. You’ve got to go play. I’m happy that we can say that, but I’d be much happier playing well in the tournament.”
Self referenced the number 10 because all signs pointed to the Jayhawks having been the overall No. 1 seed in 2020 before the tournament was canceled at the outset of the pandemic.
Jumping back on the 1 line after a forgettable and historic second-round exit in Indianapolis a season ago has the Jayhawks poised for a deeper run this time around.
“Being a 1 seed comes with the good and the bad,” sophomore wing Jalen Wilson said Sunday. “Because now you’ve got everybody gunning for you. We’re used to getting everybody’s best shot anyways, but now it’s a big target on our back. We’ve just got to represent it well and show why we are a 1 seed.”
The strength of KU’s overall resume certainly had something to do with that. In addition to winning a share of the Big 12’s regular season title and the Big 12 tournament trophy, the Jayhawks finished the pre-NCAA Tournament portion of their season with 12 Quad 1 wins, the most in NCAA Division I.
No. 3 seed Tennessee had 11. Fellow-top-seeds Gonzaga and Baylor had 10 and the fourth No. 1 seed, Arizona, had six.
While those numbers were important for the committee and KU’s case for the 1 line, the Jayhawks themselves believe the entirety of their season has prepared them for the pressure that comes with being one of the favorites to reach a Final Four.
“I think we’ve had the games that we needed to show us what we’re going to have to go through in March Madness,” Wilson said Sunday. “1 seeds, 2 seeds, 3 seeds, it doesn’t matter in the tournament. It’s just whoever plays best that game.”
Self said he was happy with the draw the Jayhawks got, but more from the standpoint of being in the Midwest region and starting in Fort Worth, near a big alumni base like Dallas, than anything else.
“I never love our draw,” he said. “And I probably don’t this year either. But I don’t hate it. It’s going to be hard regardless.”
Like with any year, Self said his team would approach the NCAA Tournament like a series of two-game tournaments. He admitted that it’s human nature to look at the bracket as a whole and see who landed where and how roads and paths for other programs might have played out. But after that first glance, he won’t look at it again.
“I’m looking at three teams,” Self said. “The winner of the game Tuesday (between Texas Southern and Texas A&M Corpus Christi) and (the 8-9 game between) San Diego State and Creighton. And then next week we’ll go on to another two-game tournament. That’s how I’ll look at it. You’re going to be playing somebody good no matter what.
“I’m not even going to get into how we matchup the second weekend until we take care of business the first weekend. And there’s still a lot of work to do before that occurs.”
While this year’s Kansas roster features several new faces, there are a handful of players who were a part of that 2019-20 team that appeared to be in position to make a real run at a national title. Guys like Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun and David McCormack were role players on that team, but they were there to experience it nonetheless. And it hurt them just as bad as it hurt that team’s stars like Udoka Azubuike, Devon Dotson and Marcus Garrett, when the tournament was canceled.
Last year brought the tournament back but the Jayhawks were still in a bubble setting and COVID was still a big part of the experience. This year, Self said, feels more like a normal year and he’s looking forward to seeing what those guys, along with the newcomers, can do with it.
“I don’t think anybody on our team has experienced what the NCAA Tournament can potentially be like, even if they’ve participated in it,” Self said Sunday. “We haven’t really given it a great run in the tournament since ’18. In order to experience what it’s really like to play here, you need to do well in the tournament. I’m looking forward (to that) and hopeful that happens.”
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Nick KrugThe path that led them there may have been slightly different than in seasons past. But it took them to the same place.
The Kansas Jayhawks will enter next week’s NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed for the third season in a row and the eighth time in Bill Self’s 15 years leading the program.
That much was revealed Sunday evening, during the NCAA Touranment Selection Show on TBS, and came on the heels of Kansas winning an NCAA-record 14th consecutive regular season conference title and backing that up by winning three games in three days in Kansas City, Mo., to claim the 2018 Big 12 tournament title, as well.
“I really like our team right now, after this past weekend,” Self said. “It’s been an up and down season. I think we’re on an uptick right now. We’ve had some good teams going into the tournament and I think this is one of those teams.”
The Jayhawks (27-7) will head to Wichita next week to begin their run in this year’s Big Dance and they will face 16th-seeded Penn (24-8) in their first game on Thursday.
“We’re happy that we get to stay close to home in Wichita,” Self said in an interview with TBS on Sunday evening. “And if we’re successful we get to stay close to home in Omaha.”
The Jayhawks and Quakers will tip off at 1 p.m. on TBS.
Already well versed in record-setting streaks, KU’s inclusion in the 2018 field puts the Jayhawks in the tournament for an NCAA-record 29th consecutive season.
The Jayhawks, who will play in the Midwest regional, joined Virginia (South), Villanova (East) and Xavier (West) as No. 1 seeds in this year’s bracket and likely landed in the Midwest, which runs through Omaha on the road to the Final Four in San Antonio as a result of their strong showing this weekend in the Big 12 tournament combined with Xavier’s loss to Providence in the Big East tourney.
Asked Saturday night, after his team’s 81-70 victory over West Virginia, about the process of waiting for their fate to be revealed, Self explained that the waiting game at Kansas is a much more relaxing journey.
“It’s a different feel here,” Self said. “At Tulsa, I remember one of our players, when we were getting ready to watch, saying, ‘OK, just not 8 or 9 in the East,’ because that’s when Duke was 32-0. And the very first deal came up and (read) “Tulsa, 8 in the East.” So, it’s a little bit different now because, (back then) there was that anticipation and that excitement to get in the tournament. We’ve known for a while that we were going to be in the tournament, but certainly (it’s) exciting to see the pairings and who we’re matched up against.”
Now, it’s time for the Jayhawks to flip the switch from Big 12 champs to national title contenders.
“We’ve been good in the tournament and we’ve been not so good in the tournament,” Self said. “We need to build off of this (WVU victory/Big 12 tourney title) and go play our best ball and not be giddy thinking we’ve arrived because the bottom line, that game could’ve ended so differently if we hadn’t made some really hard shots.”
Self said his sole focus as the 2018 bracket was revealed Sunday evening on TBS was on the first-two game tournament the Jayhawks will have to win to advance.
“I thought it was exciting watching how you guys unveiled it,” he told TBS host Ernie Johnson. “I was looking at the 1-16, 8 and 9. That was all that I was focused on.”
Stay in touch with KUsports.com throughout the night for more on KU’s road in the NCAA Tournament and be sure to pick up a copy of our special edition NCAA Tournament section in Monday’s Journal-World.
