Bill Self reacts to Kansas basketball’s seed in NCAA Tournament committee reveal
The first look at the top 16 teams for the 2024 NCAA Tournament has been released, and the early committee projection once again included the Kansas men’s basketball team.
The No. 6 (AP ranking) Kansas Jayhawks, now 8-5 in Big 12 play (with five regular-season games to play), landed as a No. 2 seed. They’re the No. 8-overall team in the bracket, putting them in West Region, with the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds taking place in Los Angeles.
Kansas (20-6) earned a pivotal road win over No. 25 Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon. That result did not factor into the first bracket projection, which was released ahead of that game.
Three other Big 12 teams (Houston, Baylor and Iowa State) also earned top-4 seeds. All three teams are currently above the Jayhawks in the conference standings, but KU was slotted higher than both the Bears and Cyclones in the tournament rankings.
Kansas coach Bill Self was asked about the Jayhawks’ seed placement following the win over Oklahoma. He said he did not know about the projection until being told by media.
“Those will change a lot between now and four weeks from now,” Self said. “At least we put ourselves in the position to still play (for) what we want to play for. We’re not out of it by any stretch, but certainly I don’t think we’re quite where we had hoped we were as of three or four weeks ago.”
There’s still time, as Self mentioned, for the Jayhawks to improve their tournament position.
Notably, Kansas beat Houston at home in early February. The Cougars will have a chance at redemption back in Houston on March 9. KU also beat Baylor in Allen Fieldhouse, and the teams will rematch in Waco in early March.
A win in either — or both — could improve the Jayhawks’ seed on Selection Sunday.
As for the rest of the field, Purdue landed as the early No. 1-overall seed, while the Jayhawks’ region, the West, was led by No. 1 seed Arizona (No. 4 overall), with No. 3 seed Duke and No. 4 seed Auburn.
Here were the projected seeds and tournament rankings as of the committee’s reveal Saturday morning. No games played on Saturday were reflected in the committee’s rankings...
Midwest Region (Detroit)
- No. 1 Purdue (1)
- No. 2 Tennessee (6)
- No. 3 Baylor (10)
- No. 4 San Diego State (14)
East Region (Boston)
- No. 1 UConn (2)
- No. 2 North Carolina (5)
- No. 3 Iowa State (11)
- No. 4 Wisconsin (16)
South Region (Dallas)
- No. 1 Houston (3)
- No. 2 Marquette (7)
- No. 3 Alabama (9)
- No. 4 Illinois (15)
West Region (Los Angeles)
- No. 1 Arizona (4)
- No. 2 Kansas (8)
- No. 3 Duke (12)
- No. 4 Auburn (13)
This story was originally published February 17, 2024 at 11:58 AM.
