Kansas basketball: 5 most painful NCAA Tournament losses in Bill Self era

4. 2017, Elite Eight, Oregon (3 seed)

On paper, this was one of Bill Self’s better teams of all time. They statistically had the best offense in the Self era, the Wooden Award winner, and one of the program’s one-and-dones.

It was not as winnable of a game as the Villanova defeat, but it was more aggravating because of how Oregon played. They hit 11 of their 25 three-point tries, headlined by Tyler Dorsey’s outpouring of jumpers. Jordan Bell blocked eight — yes, eight — shots and picked up just one foul. Frank Mason’s small stature had never been as evident every time Bell swatted one of his shots away.

This was the year before Devonte Graham came into his own, but he had never looked worse than he did this day. It was easily the worst performance of his Kansas career. He did not hit one of his seven shot attempts and air-balled a wide-open floater during the team’s comeback attempt.

Every single time you looked up at the TV screen, Kansas’ comeback attempt had flopped. The Ducks could have heaved from half-court all game, and they probably would have shot better than KU. It was just one of those games where everything seemed to go wrong for us and right for them.

Even though it won’t be remembered as a devastating loss, it was a game the Jayhawks should have played better in. Frank Mason III should have had a better ending to his career at Kansas.