The 2024-25 campaign has been pretty terrible for Kansas basketball standards. While the Jayhawks hold nonconference victories over Duke and Michigan State and throttled Iowa State at home, they already have nine losses and sit sixth in the Big 12 standings.
KU’s program is synonymous with high March Madness seedings, but that won’t be the case next month. The Selection Sunday committee will not take the bad losses and blown leads lightly. According to On3.com's James Fletcher III, Kansas will be a No. 7 seed in the East region, playing its first-round game against No. 10 Vanderbilt.
Kansas basketball won’t receive a favorable tournament draw this year
This seeding would easily be the worst of Bill Self’s tenure. The Hall of Famer arrived in Lawrence in 2003 and has never led his squad to a lower seed than No. 4 in the NCAA Tournament. Landing in the 7-10 game would certainly be unprecedented territory for the program.
The last time Kansas received a seeding of No. 7 or lower was the 1999-00 season under Roy Williams. The No. 8-seeded Jayhawks narrowly defeated DePaul in the first round before falling to No. 1 Duke in the second round.
If the Jayhawks were to advance in Fletcher's scenario, they would take on the winner of No. 2 Wisconsin vs. No. 15 Central Connecticut State in the Round of 32. The Badgers are 21-6 on the season and have beaten the likes of Arizona and Purdue on the road. They are ranked ninth in KenPom and have the eighth-best offensive rating in the country.
It’s worth noting that this edition of bracketology was created before Kansas defeated Oklahoma State 96-64 over the weekend. However, beating a .500 team wouldn’t have been enough to push them over the edge.
Given the Jayhawks’ preseason No. 1 ranking and collection of impressive wins, stealing a handful of games in the tournament would not shock anyone. However, the team has serious work to do if it plans to make it to the second weekend this year.