For the second year in a row, the Jayhawks’ struggles during the heart of their conference season caused their seeding to drop enough that they missed out on the chance to play close to home.
They won’t be playing in Wichita, where they have never lost in three separate NCAA Tournament trips, or in Denver, a city to which Kansas fans have famously traveled well in years past.
Instead, they find themselves in, of all places, Providence, Rhode Island, at Amica Mutual Pavilion.
Even as KU has played in some far-flung locales in the NCAA Tournament over the years, the Jayhawks haven’t made it out to Providence. KU’s Round of 64 matchup will be its first in the Ocean State as a whole, let alone at the home of the Providence Friars.
KU has not even played NCAA Tournament games east of Greensboro, North Carolina, at any point in its history, or east of Detroit in the Bill Self era.
But, with the preponderance of transfers on the Jayhawks’ roster, it isn’t a surprise that one has experience in the region. Junior wing AJ Storr played on the road at Providence twice, once each for St. John’s and Wisconsin.
Regional site
If KU can escape the first weekend for just the second time since 2018, it will have the chance to play a Sweet 16 game in San Francisco at the Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors.
That will be a new experience for the Jayhawks, as KU has not played a game in the city by the Bay since losing to the University of San Francisco 75-58 on Dec. 21, 1963. (The Jayhawks won in two earlier meetings with the Dons there in 1947 and 1960.) That was Dick Harp’s final year as head coach and the game took place at War Memorial Gymnasium, now known formally as the Sobrato Center.
The East and South Bay have been more frequent destinations for KU over the years. The Jayhawks are 4-2 against Cal in six games played between Oakland and Berkeley, three of which occurred on consecutive days in 1929, and 2-1 against Stanford in Palo Alto. KU also beat Santa Clara 76-64 on the road to open the 1996-97 season.
The Jayhawks have made one notable trip to the Bay Area during Self’s tenure as head coach. In 2007, KU made it to the West Regional with double-digit victories over Niagara and Kentucky in Chicago, earning a date with Southern Illinois, a No. 4 seed in the midst of one of its best seasons in school history, in San Jose. The Jayhawks survived the Salukis despite numerous turnovers, poor free-throw shooting and the lack of a three-point offense, but fell short against UCLA in the Elite Eight, depriving Self of his first Final Four berth.
Seeding
For the first time in Self’s tenure, KU is a No. 7 seed. That is the lowest the Jayhawks have ranked entering the tournament since 2000, when they entered as a No. 8 seed, scraped past DePaul in overtime and then lost to top-seeded Duke in the second round.
KU has only been a No. 7 seed on one other occasion in its history, and it was before the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985. The 1980-81 Jayhawks, in reaching the Sweet 16, made it the farthest of any team in Ted Owens’ final nine seasons at the helm.
They did it by getting hot late in the season, shaking off a 3-5 stretch in the heart of the conference season to win seven games in a row, including three to take the Big Eight tournament title and secure a postseason berth, and then a second-round upset over No. 2 seed Arizona State in Wichita, 88-71. Tony Guy scored 36 points on 13-for-15 shooting to outpace Byron Scott’s 32, and the Jayhawks shot 53.2% as a team in the offensive outburst.
Their downfall came at the hands of Wichita State in the following round in New Orleans. Mike Jones scored twice in the last minute, including once with four seconds remaining, and the referees famously did not call a foul on the Shockers’ Jay Jackson when he collided with Darnell Valentine in the final moments, resulting in a 66-65 victory for WSU.
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