Selection Sunday: Here’s KU basketball’s NCAA Tournament outlook after Big 12 final
Kansas basketball acting coach Norm Roberts has no idea if KU will receive the No. 1-overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. And frankly, he didn’t care after Kansas’ 71-58 win over Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament semifinal round.
“We’re not worried about that,” Roberts said, asked about the No. 1-overall seed. “We’re worried about winning the game and who we play next. You can’t worry about that. When you get into the tournament, everybody is good. Every team is a champion. You gotta be ready to play, so it doesn’t matter where you’re at.”
Roberts might not care who or where the Jayhawks might play, but Jayhawk fans certainly do.
Not to mention, coach Bill Self hasn’t been shy about wanting the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region. He knows KU fans travel well, but playing in T-Mobile Center in Kansas City is almost like the Jayhawks’ second home.
That was certainly on display at the Big 12 Tournament — with a KU-heavy crowd on hand for Kansas’ 76-56 loss to Texas in the final.
That loss also hurts the Jayhawks’ case for the No. 1-overall seed. Losing to Texas twice in a week — and by a decisive margin — is undoubtedly something the NCAA committee will look at. Still, KU should be pretty heavily in the mix for the top seed with Alabama and Houston.
After Saturday’s loss, KU guard Dajuan Harris wasn’t exactly sure what region Kansas would end up in.
“This is just one game,” Harris said postgame. “We have 17, 18 Quad 1 wins, so we deserve to be a one seed. So, if today we would’ve won, then we definitely would have locked down the Midwest Region. So, hopefully, we still get it.”
A month ago, in the NCAA’s early bracket reveal, KU earned the fourth spot of the top seeds. Alabama was the top No. 1.
Still, nobody will know until Selection Sunday.
If Kansas gets the top overall seed, it gets its choice of the region — which would almost certainly be the Midwest.
KU basketball NCAA Tournament resume
Here’s how KU’s case compares to its biggest foes (Alabama, Purdue and Houston) for the No. 1-overall seed as of Saturday night:
Quad 1 wins
Kansas — 17
Alabama — 10
Purdue — 10
Houston — 6
Net Ranking
Houston — 1
Alabama — 2
Purdue — 5
Kansas — 6
Strength of Schedule (per KenPom)
Kansas — 1
Alabama — 9
Purdue — 24
Houston — 100
Bracket Matrix, a website that compiles more than 100 bracket projections into a single consensus, listed KU in the second spot for top seeds (behind Alabama) as of Saturday night.
Bracketology: Experts say Midwest for KU
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports has Kansas as a No. 1 seed in the Midwest, with Des Moines, Iowa, as the site of its pod.
Joe Lunardi of ESPN also thinks the Jayhawks will be a No. 1 seed in the Midwest coming out of Des Moines.
No matter the region or the seed, Kansas appears ready to face anybody anywhere.
“If they do give (the No. 1-overall seed) to us, it will be great, but we’ll still be a one-seed on Wednesday,” said KU forward Jalen Wilson. “It’s still basketball, no matter who we are playing. It wouldn’t get any easier even if we were playing here to go to the Final Four. It’s still basketball, so we got to show up and play. Ready to get to it.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2023 at 9:30 PM.