The Kansas baseball team long ago fulfilled a dream by getting itself in position for a first NCAA Tournament berth since 2014, but its loftier aspirations of hosting an NCAA regional may have come to an end late Friday night at Globe Life Field with a resounding 11-1 loss to TCU.
That was the Jayhawks’ fourth loss to the Horned Frogs this year — not long after they had picked up their fourth win over Oklahoma State in walk-off fashion on Thursday — and ended their campaign for a Big 12 tournament championship in the semifinals for the second straight season.
That ensured that the memorable 2025 campaign, with a current record of 43-15, will be recognized with no league title after West Virginia had a slight regular-season advantage in win percentage despite having two of its games at OSU canceled (and getting swept by KU in the final series of the year).
In any event, the Jayhawks’ focus will now shift to the postseason, and most immediately to Monday morning’s selection show, which is set for 11 a.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.
KU’s RPI is No. 24 and it is therefore in strong position for a mid-level No. 2 seed. That means that it should theoretically be grouped with mid-level Nos. 1, 3 and 4 seeds.
However, according to the NCAA’s prechampionship manual, “The pairings for the regionals, whenever possible, will be based on closest geographical location of the teams to the tournament sites.”
That would explain why KU is repeatedly and near-unanimously getting projected in the Fayetteville, Arkansas, regional — most other prospective hosts are deeper into the South — even though the Razorbacks have not been in the No. 8 range but consistently ranked among the top few teams in the country. Granted, they did lose on Friday to Ole Miss in their SEC tournament debut.
D1Baseball on Saturday projected KU in Fayetteville with Creighton and Little Rock, as 11Point7 College Baseball had done on Friday prior to the recent losses. The Tennessean, also on Friday, had Creighton and Nevada.
Baseball America has in recent days taken a different approach. The website’s Saturday projections had KU in, of all places, Corvallis, Oregon, in the regional hosted by Oregon State, accompanied by USC and Fresno State. KU previously played in the postseason there in 2006.
The previous day, the site had placed the Jayhawks at UCLA. It replaced KU with UC Irvine on Saturday.
This is a valid approach. The NCAA manual also says, after all, “Teams may be moved outside their regions, if necessary, to balance the bracket, or if the proximity to an opponent outside the region would be comparable and a better competitive matchup would occur.” Most experts just have not deemed this necessary in KU’s case. The principal question entering Monday is if a desire for balance will outweigh the opportunity to place KU just a short four-hour drive away in Fayetteville.
Arkansas batter Wehiwa Aloy (9) against Central Arkansas during an NCAA baseball game on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn makes a pitching change against Arkansas State during an NCAA baseball game on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)
Oregon State infielder Aiva Arquette throws during an NCAA baseball game against Baylor on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025, in Arlington, Texas.
AP Photo/Brandon Wade