Kansas basketball: Jayhawks selected as No. 1 seed in West region

The Selection Sunday committee must have had their minds swayed after KU’s loss to Texas in the Big 12 championship. Kansas was chosen as the one seed in the West region.

They were not the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, an achievement that Alabama obtained, and neither were they the second. The Jayhawks did not receive the seeding that they desired. They will start off the tourney in the West bracket, which takes place in Des Moines, Iowa.

KU wanted to garner the Midwest region because they eventually advance to play in Kansas City. Instead, Kansas fans will have to travel farther to see their school compete. It is an extremely disappointing outcome for the team, who undoubtedly would have gotten a more favorable outcome had they won yesterday.

They drew a rather tough bracket to play in, as the No. 2 seed is UCLA. However, they did avoid an extremely dangerous Arizona team, so fans can take a deep breath in knowing they won’t have to play the Pac-12 champions.

Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, TCU, and other highly-rated teams are also in the bracket. By no means will it be a walk in the park in any of the games Kansas will have to play.

Purdue was taken down to the wire against Penn State in a thriller, but the Boilermakers ultimately prevailed. They were selected as the last No. 1 seed in the East region.

UCLA and Houston, two other one-seed candidates, lost in their respective conference title games (as Kansas did.) However, even though Houston had ten fewer Quadrant 1 wins, they got the nod in the Midwest over Kansas. There will surely be controversy over this decision.

Kansas recently received the great news that Bill Self is expecting to return to the sidelines after missing the Big 12 Tournament due to a health issue. He presumably will return in the Round of 64 this upcoming week.

The first round of the NCAA Tournament will take place between March 16th and 17th. Kansas will be playing the No. 16 seed Howard Bison. If they advance to the Round of 32, they will play the winner of Arkansas vs. Illinois. Both of those teams will be tough to beat.