Wichita last served as one of the sites for the NCAA Basketball Tournament in 2018, and in that season, there was little mystery as to who the top seed in that arm of the bracket would be.
Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks were an obvious one seed that season, and after winning the Big 12 regular season crown and tournament, they were the obvious choice to serve as the No. 1 in the Midwest and, thus, in the Wichita Sub-regional.
This time around, however, the Jayhawks are far removed from that pedestal and likely have some work to do if they hope to stay close to home.
As the Kansas City Star points out in their tournament projections, the Jayhawks aren’t likely to end up in the Wichita sub-region unless they get to the Big Dance as a four-seed or better.
Currently, Kansas (19-9, 10-7 Big 12) projects as a six-seed in the latest Bracketology from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. If that’s where they land in the pecking order, they won’t be staying in the Sunflower State for March Madness, thanks to the NCAA rules and regulations used to build out the bracket.
Part of the bracket-building process requires that the committee refrain from placing teams seeded on the first four lines at a potential “home-crowd disadvantage” in the first round.
So, unless Kansas can find its way up to the four-line, they are probably getting on a plane and crossing state lines for the first round of the March Madness.
The Jayhawks have struggled in recent weeks, going 4-4 over their past eight games. They have put together a two-game winning streak, though, and could climb the seed lines if they can close out the regular season strong and make a run in the Big 12 Tournament.
With hypothetical wins over Texas Tech, Houston, and Arizona to close out the season and a couple of wins in Kansas City, a bid to Wichita could be within reach. But, that’s asking a lot of a team that’s struggled with consistency all season.
Kansas will host Texas Tech on Saturday, March 1, at 1:00 p.m. CT (ESPN).
