LAWRENCE
Kansas men’s basketball players share something in common with fellow members of the student body this week. They’re headed to a major global tourist destination — a city with beautiful beaches and balmy weather — for the school’s spring break.
“If you can’t go to St Louis or Oklahoma City, that’d be my next pick, for sure,” KU coach Bill Self said Sunday of San Diego, California, site of the No. 4 seed Jayhawks’ first-round NCAA Tournament East Regional contest against No. 13 Cal Baptist.
The game will be played at 8:45 p.m. Central on Friday at Viajas Arena. It will be shown on CBS.
“So yes, I like where we’re going,” Self added.
If the Jayhawks win on Friday, they would play either No. 12 seed Northern Iowa, the team that eliminated KU in the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, or No. 5 seed St. John’s, the transfer destination of former KU player Zuby Ejiofor, who recently was named Big East player of the year.
Two wins would mean a spot in the Sweet 16, possibly against No. 1 seed Duke, on Friday, March 27, in Washington, D.C.
“I never like the draw, ever,” Self said, showing respect to all teams in the tourney.
Yet he gives thumbs up to seeding and the day of the first game.
“I actually like that it’s on Friday just to give us an extra day, because we could use some practice time. So I like that,” Self said.
His Jayhawks went 1-1 at the Big 12 tournament, defeating TCU 78-73 on Thursday before getting clobbered by Houston 69-47 in Friday’s semifinals. The team had a productive practice on Sunday, Self stated, noting he gave Melvin Council Jr. the day off because of the heavy workload he’s had all season.
“We’re studying Cal Baptist. I don’t know as much. I know who their coach is (Rick Croy, 13th season) and where they are (Riverside, California), and the league (WAC) and winning it and all that stuff,” he said.
“And I know they’ve got Dominique (Daniels, senior guard). He’s averaging about 22 or 23 and he’s shot 180-something 3s this year.
Dominique Daniels, a senior guard, has averaged 23.2 points per game. He’s made 61 of 186 3s for 32.8% for the Lancers (25-8).
“I know that (guarding Daniels) will be a top priority, but I’m looking forward to studying them tonight and have a better feel and a better book on them,” Self said of the school that made the jump into Division I basketball on July 1, 2018.
There had been some talk KU might drop to a 5 seed after losing five of nine games down the stretch, but the Jayhawks, ranked 14th in the country last week, secured a No. 4.
“I actually thought we would be a 4 or 5. I thought we would be … based on how Vanderbilt played today (loss to Arkansas) and how Arkansas and Wisconsin played (Wisconsin lost to Michigan Saturday), I thought it was a situation we’d be a 4 or 5.
“You’ve got the No. 1 overall seed (in East Regional in Duke), which probably means we were the 16th seed as the 4, I would think,” Self added.
If KU does defeat Cal Baptist, it will face potential interesting storylines in the second round Sunday.
“Well, Northern Iowa already beat us in the (NCAA) Tournament in a 1 versus (9),” Self said. Indeed, No. 9 seed NIU stopped No. 1 seed KU 69-67 in a second-round tourney contest on March 20, 2010, in Oklahoma City.
“We played them in a second-round game, which would be the same as this one. And we’ve never played Rick (Pitino, St, John’s) in the tournament. Obviously I believe he’s as good as our business has, so we’ll have to prepare really hard for that.
“If we’re fortunate enough to get past and beat Cal Baptist, which you know, we’re not going to look past anybody and certainly not them … but I’m happy for Zuby. We didn’t want Zuby to leave (after 2022-23 season). Ernest (Udeh) was still here at that time, and we recruited Hunter (Dickinson, both bigs), so he made the right decision for ‘Zube.’ He’s a terrific kid and had unbelievable success. I’m really happy for him,” Self added.
The bottom part of the East Region bracket includes teams such as UConn, UCLA, Michigan State, Louisville and UConn.
“They said all along UConn was on the 1-line up until what, two days ago?” Self said of the Huskies, who were knocked off by St. John’s by 20 points in the Big East tourney. “Then you have Michigan State as a 3. They were talked about being a 2. And then you have, in my opinion, as hot a 5 as there is, period (in St. John’s). They win the Big East, beat UConn by 20, and they’re the fifth seed. I think this year all along that 3, 4, 5, 6 (seeds), it seems harder to me. It seems like there’s less separation than there maybe has been in years past.”
Related Stories from Kansas City Star
The Kansas City Star
Gary Bedore covers KU basketball for The Kansas City Star. He has written about the Jayhawks since 1978 — during the Ted Owens, Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Bill Self eras. He has won the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year award and KPA writing awards.