LAWRENCE — Going into the Big 12 Conference tournament, Kansas basketball coach Bill Self has an idea of where the Jayhawks could start out in the NCAA tournament that follows.
Self, whose No. 16 Jayhawks (22-9, 12-6 in Big 12) are the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 tournament, sees his team as either a No. 4 or No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament at this point. Self, speaking Tuesday, left open the possibility that his team could earn a better seed depending on how it performs this week in Kansas City, Missouri. Until the Big 12 tournament games play out, though, it’s just unclear exactly what that picture will look like for KU in March Madness.
But while some contests still need to unfold, there are projections for where KU would start in the NCAA tournament. They set Kansas up as a team with a chance to make a run at another national title. It’s just a matter of how the Jayhawks would handle that draw.
Here are a few of those recent projections, as of Tuesday evening:
USA TODAY — No. 4 seed
This projection places Kansas as the No. 4 seed in the South Region, with a round of 64 matchup against No. 13 seed Stephen F. Austin. Win, and the Jayhawks would go up against either No. 5 seed Tennessee or No. 12 seed Hofstra. KU won a game earlier this season against Tennessee, back in November, during the Players Era event in Las Vegas.
ESPN — No. 4 seed
This projection places Kansas as the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region, with a round of 64 matchup against No. 13 seed North Dakota State. Win, and the Jayhawks would go up against either No. 5 seed Vanderbilt or No. 12 seed High Point. Odds are, if KU was going to make a run to the Final Four, it would have to defeat the No. 1 seed in this region — Michigan — along the way.
CBS Sports — No. 5 seed
This projection places Kansas as the No. 5 seed in the East Region, with a round of 64 matchup against No. 12 seed Yale. Win, and the Jayhawks would go up against either No. 4 seed Texas Tech or No. 13 seed Hofstra. KU won a game earlier this season on the road against Texas Tech during Big 12 play.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Check out Kansas basketball NCAA tournament bracketology projections