If past matchups are any indication of future success, the Kansas Jayhawks could be in for a good time this weekend in Omaha, Nebraska, where top-seeded KU (29-7) will face fifth-seeded Clemson (25-9) in the Sweet 16 at 6:07 p.m. Friday at CenturyLink Center.
Win that one, and it’s back to the Elite Eight for the Jayhawks, who have seen their season end one game shy of the Final Four in each of the past two years.
But it’s not the Jayhawks’ history in Elite Eight games that serves as the indicator of how things might go this weekend, rather, KU coach Bill Self’s stellar record against ACC teams during his days at Kansas.
Since arriving at KU for the 2003-04 season, Self is 12-2 all-time against current ACC teams. Considering the fact that the Jayhawks will be playing this weekend in a regional that includes nothing but ACC teams as possible opponents — Clemson, Duke and Syracuse — that past success could bode well for the Jayhawks.
Self has led KU into battle against roughly half of the current members of the ACC during his 15 seasons in charge of the Jayhawks. And Clemson is one of the eight teams Self’s Jayhawks have not faced in the past 15 years.
In fact, KU and Clemson have never faced one another in a basketball game of any kind.
Self lost to the first ACC team he faced at Kansas — 79-71 to Georgia Tech in overtime of the Elite Eight — and then won five in a row over ACC teams, including a Final Four meeting with North Carolina in 2008, before dropping another game.
That loss, to Duke in the finals of the 2011 Maui Invitational, came in the same season that the Jayhawks finished as the national runners-up to Kentucky, a run that featured victories over ACC teams North Carolina State and North Carolina two days apart in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight in St. Louis.
Those wins marked the beginning of KU’s current six-game winning streak against the Atlantic Coast Conference.
As the overall record suggests, Self’s Jayhawks own a winning record against every ACC team they have faced in the past 15 seasons, including a 2-1 mark against Duke and a 1-0 mark against Syracuse, the two teams that will face each other in the other regional semifinal this week in Omaha.
KU’s lone victory over the Orange — since Syracuse joined the ACC in 2013 — came earlier this season, when Devonte’ Graham dropped 35 points and five assists on Jim Boeheim’s squad in a 76-60 victory in Miami.
**Here’s a quick glance at Self’s records against the 7 ACC teams he has faced while at Kansas:**
• Boston College, 2-0 (home and home in 2006 and 2008)
• Duke, 2-1 (loss in Maui and two wins in Champions Classic)
• Georgia Tech, 2-1 (Elite Eight loss, New Year’s Day win in 2005, regular season win in 2007)
• North Carolina, 3-0 (Final Four win in 2008, Elite Eight win in 2012, 2nd Round NCAA Tournament win in 2013)
• North Carolina State, 1-0 (Sweet 16 win in 2012)
• Syracuse, 1-0 (regular season win in 2017-18 in Miami)
• Wake Forest, 1-0 (Battle for Atlantis victory in Bahamas in 2013)
• Clemson, TBD