NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee projects Kansas as No. 2 seed in tournament
LAWRENCE — There’s still so much that can happen between now and the release of the full NCAA tournament field in March.
The regular season still has some weeks to go. The conference tournaments themselves have yet to be played. Just as there’s time for a team to surge up the rankings, there’s time for a team to fall back as well.
But the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee’s release of its top 16 teams Saturday shows Kansas is in an advantageous position. The Jayhawks are the final No. 2 seed and project to be in the West Region. With a strong end to the season, they can give themselves a chance at reaching a No. 1 seed.
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“Those will change a lot between now and four weeks from now, but at least we’ve put ourselves in the position to still play what we want to play for,” Kansas coach Bill Self said Saturday after a win at Oklahoma. “We’re not out of it by any stretch. But certainly I don’t think that we’re quite where we had hoped we were as of three or four weeks ago.”
Certain games Kansas (20-6, 8-5 in Big 12) has dropped on the road during Big 12 Conference play have likely had a lot to do with that. The Jayhawks’ losses at UCF and West Virginia were two games they didn’t just have their chances to win, but likely should have won. Victories there might not have vaulted Self and company above Purdue or UConn, the top two No. 1 seeds at this point, but they certainly would have had a better stance in the debate to be one of the lower No. 1 seeds or one of the higher No. 2 seeds.
The last two No. 1 seeds in this in-season projection are Houston and Arizona, in that order. In order, North Carolina, Tennessee and Marquette are the No. 2 seeds that are ahead of Kansas. Behind the Jayhawks the No. 3 seeds are Alabama, Baylor, Iowa State and Duke, and the No. 4 seeds are Auburn, San Diego State, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Against the current top 16 teams, Kansas is 4-2. It has wins against UConn, Houston, Tennessee and Baylor, and losses against Marquette and Iowa State. Before the end of the regular season, the Jayhawks will have an opportunity to play Baylor and Houston again to add to their resume.
“This was a good process to go through, whether you have been on the committee for a number of years or if it was your first time,” committee chairman Charles McClelland, the commissioner of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, said in a release on NCAA.com. “Parity is a word that gets thrown around a lot, but I believe we have seen much more of it than in most years, which makes me think we are in for a wild ride down the stretch of the season and as we get to March Madness. As is the case with millions of college basketball fans around the world, the committee is excited and ready.”
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Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Is Kansas basketball going to be a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament?
