Jayhawks Q&A: How KU has fared as No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament under Bill Self
Ben Franklin once said, “In this world, nothing is certain except death and taxes.”
Perhaps, we can add the Kansas men’s basketball team being a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament to that statement soon enough.
The Jayhawks are the No. 1 seed in the West Regional of the NCAA Tournament. It’s the 10th time Kansas has been a 1 seed in Bill Self’s 20 years of coaching at KU.
Here’s a look at how KU has fared as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament over the years.
2022 — National Champions
2018 — Final Four
2017 — Elite Eight
2016 — Elite Eight
2013 — Sweet Sixteen
2011 — Elite Eight
2010 — Second Round
2008 — National Champions
2007 — Elite Eight
KU begins its quest for another championship on Thursday as the Jayhawks face off against No. 16 seed Howard.
Anyway, it’s time for another Kansas Jayhawks Q&A. As always, thank you for all the questions!
Self was discharged from the University of Kansas Health System on Sunday and has returned to his home in Lawrence, according to KU Athletics.
Here’s why he went to the hospital, as shared in a release from KU.
“He arrived at the emergency department Wednesday evening, March 8, complaining of chest tightness and balance concerns,” read the University of Kansas Health System statement. “Clinical Service Chief for Cardiovascular Medicine and Interventional cardiologist Dr. Mark Wiley said Coach Self underwent a standard heart catheterization and had two stents placed for the treatment of blocked arteries.”
On Selection Sunday, acting coach and Jayhawk assistant Norm Roberts said Self should return to the team on Monday. Roberts is excited to have Self back.
“It’s awesome,” Roberts said. “When you don’t have your leader or head of the snake or whatever you want to call it — you don’t have him and everybody misses him. He’s a huge impact not only for our basketball team, but for our university.”
This is a tough one. Assuming the Jayhawks beat the Bison, either Arkansas or Illinois would be a tough matchup for KU.
Both teams are among the nation’s tallest teams (top-15 in average player height), hang their hats on defense, and struggle to shoot from beyond the arc.
If I had to choose a team KU would want to face, it would be the Fighting Illini. While they are 32nd in adjusted defensive efficiency (95.7) — their offense has some clear holes. For example, Illinois ranks 331st in three-point percentage (30.9) and struggles at the free throw line (68%).
Not to mention, I think Arkansas has a clear talent advantage over the Fighting Illini with a star scorer in Ricky Council IV and two potential NBA lottery picks (Nick Smith Jr. and Anthony Black) who aren’t too far behind.
Terrence Shannon Jr. leads Illinois in scoring at 17.1 points per game, but after that, nobody comes even within four points of him — so it should be easier to stop Illinois on offense.
Honestly, that is a great question. If you go with the top seeds, KU’s path to the Final Four would be Howard, Arkansas, UConn, and UCLA.
I agree KU should be the favorite in the first two games, but against the Huskies is where it gets a little tricky.
UConn is much better than your typical No. 4 seed — KenPom has the Huskies at No. 4, while BartTorvik has them at No. 5 in the nation.
UConn is a matchup nightmare with its blend of height and shooting and it would be a challenging game for the Jayhawks. It depends on how both teams have played coming into the game, but Kansas should be slight favorites against the Huskies.
The game against UCLA is likely where KU is an underdog. No. 2 UCLA will likely have the crowd advantage in the West Region and ranks as the No. 2 team in the country on KenPom.
I don’t see Gradey Dick scoring 25+ points per game for six straight for several reasons. First, Dick has only scored 25 points or more twice this season — against NC State, he had 25 and vs. Oklahoma State, he dropped 26.
Second, and more importantly, he’s a freshman and lacks overall consistency — like any freshman. Dick has scored 15-plus points in no more than four-consecutive games this season. He has seven games with 20+ points ... and 11 games with 0-9 points.
Finally, he hasn’t been shooting with the volume to consistently reach high 20s point totals. I could see him hitting that mark a couple of times, but it’s unrealistic to expect that from anybody on KU — including even Jalen Wilson.
I think Dick is a fantastic player and will eventually be a good player in the NBA. Still, the way college basketball works and how KU’s system is, it’s tough to drop 25 points per game consistently, much less come NCAA Tournament time when every opponent will focus on slowing him down.
Honestly, I don’t think so. I don’t think Kansas got penalized for losing out of conference, but more so the point margin in their losses and losing to Texas twice by a significant margin within a week.
I will say, based off the committee’s explanation, it seems like Quad 1 wins didn’t matter as much as having fewer losses from the first two quadrants, which I don’t understand.
Overall, I think Self is more concerned with grabbing a No. 1 seed than worrying about what region Kansas is in. KU has made plenty of deep runs in the NCAA Tournament without coming out of Kansas City.
Self knows every time the Jayhawks play a tougher out-of-conference schedule, It’ll help him work out the kinks with his team before Big 12 play — and potentially give Kansas the chance to play an opponent it would potentially see in the NCAA Tournament.
