By the time Sunday evening rolls around, the Kansas Jayhawks will likely be unsure of their seeding fate in the NCAA Tournament, with the complexities of the Big 12 Tournament, along with the added hint of some other conference tournament either helping or hindering the Jayhawks’ path, the future is at best “foggy.”
Yes, the Jayhawks do have a great home record, which should not be ignored. Bill Self’s squad has taken down the No. 2, 13, 5, and 1 teams inside Allen Fieldhouse, and holds a strong 13-2 record overall at home.
Away from home, things are quite different.
Kansas’ seed line may be heavily affected thanks to their away record
Earlier this week, David Cobb, Isaac Trotter, and Matt Norlander of CBS Sports took the task of coming up with several true or false prompts. The Jayhawks were involved in one debate pondering where KU should be seeded in the NCAA Tournament, and how the Vanderbilt Commodores may just be the one thing pushing Kansas down from a four to a five seed.
“The big argument I will make for Vandy is something that stuck with me from the mock selection in Indianapolis last month. Clark Kellogg said he values road wins almost more than anything else. Vandy is 8-4 on the road and 3-0 in neutral games. Kansas is 5-6 on the road and 4-1 in neutral games,” quotes lead Bracketology modeler Jacob Fetner.
While at home, Kansas has had just two slipups all season; the Jayhawks lost three unranked games alone away from home against UCF, West Virginia, and Arizona State. While wins at No. 13 Texas Tech and losses to No. 5 Iowa State and No. 25 UNC are all taken into account. Objectively, there is no denying that Kansas’ form away from home could have been a lot more clean.
“Kansas won't be playing in Phog Allen the rest of the season. Vandy has shown it can win in chaotic environments — beating Tennessee this weekend further proves that — and Kansas hasn't consistently shown that they can. I give a solid pre-conference tournament edge to Vandy.”
The best time to show the committee their value is now
As the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 Tournament, Kansas is set to take on either No. 14 Oklahoma State, No. 11 Colorado or No. 6 TCU. The Cowboys and the Buffaloes will square off Tuesday night, with the winner taking on the Horned Frogs Wednesday night.
These are all three teams that Kansas handled relatively well. However, when KU took on TCU towards the beginning of conference play, the Jayhawks had to fight back from as much as 16 points down in their comeback win.
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