WATCHETOLOGY: With KU’s spot secure, 8-9 match-ups worth eyeing

By Matt Tait     Mar 8, 2016

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Kansas forward Jamari Traylor (31) tangles with Vanderbilt guard Nolan Cressler (24) and Vanderbilt forward Jeff Roberson (11) during the second half, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2015 at Lahaina Civic Center in Lahaina, Hawaii.

It does not appear that the powers that be in the Bracketology world are interested at all in moving Kansas off of the No. 1 seed line.

The Jayhawks, who have won 11 in a row and enter the postseason as hot as any team in the country, have a lot to do with that and, even if KU does not fare well in Kansas City this week, it seems like it will not have a negative affect on KU’s seed.

The Jayhawks, barring something incredibly crazy, will be a No. 1 seed and as long as they win a game or two in KCMO, they likely will be the No. 1 overall seed.

With that in mind, it’s time to start taking a closer look at which teams are on the 8-9 line. No disrespect to the 16 seeds, but since a No. 1 has never lost to No. 16, it doesn’t seem like spending too much time studying who those teams might be is really worth it. Besides, would it even mean much to anyone if we started talking about Texas Southern, Wagner or Wright State?

With the possible exception of a first-round match-up between KU and Florida Gulf Coast — aka Bill Self against Joe Dooley — there’s not a lot of intrigue in the 1-16 match-ups.

That second-round showdown could be something, though.

Right now, in his [latest Bracketology update (March 8)][1], ESPN’s Joe Lunardi again has Wichita State in that 8-9 game in KU’s region. That would set up a potential KU-WSU rematch from last season’s tournament and, obviously, would bring a lot of buzz to the Sunflower State.

Looking beyond that, though, there are some teams on the 8-9 line that are pretty powerful.

South Carolina, under former K-State coach Frank Martin, has had a good year. St. Mary’s is an underrated team on the rise. And Colorado, coached by former Jayhawk Tad Boyle, has a couple of signature victories over good teams.

While those are all interesting and potentially dangerous second-round teams, the one that jumped off the page at me is Vanderbilt. You’ll remember Vandy from the title game in Maui, where the Commodores pushed the Jayhawks to the brink and had plenty of people leaving the islands thinking that Kevin Stallings’ team was a potential Final Four ballclub. They still might be. Even though the Commodores fell on hard times during the middle of the season, they’re playing much better of late and recently knocked off Kentucky at home.

I doubt that’s a team Kansas would face in the second round, but, as you can tell from what’s mentioned above, there are plenty of strong teams all over the bracket in the 7-10 range that easily could be waiting on the Jayhawks in Round 2.

Such is life in college basketball this season and it appears that the days of the 8-9 game being a battle of weaker teams are long gone.

[1]: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.