TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – It’s NCAA tournament time again, and for the 36th consecutive season, the Kansas Jayhawks are going dancing.
13 NEWS has a crew at Topeka Regional Airport, where the Jayhawks are scheduled to take off around 12:45 p.m. Wednesday as they head to San Diego for their first-round game on Friday night against the California Baptist University Lancers, who are making their first appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Tipoff for that contest is set for 8:45 p.m. Friday at the Viejas Arena in San Diego, with the game airing on CBS, including WIBW-TV, Channel 13.
Melvin Council and the Kansas Jayhawks take off from Topeka on Wednesday afternoon as they head to San Diego for their first-round game in the 2026 NCAA men’s basketball tournament against California Baptist University. (Denny Medley\Big 12 Conference)(Denny Medley\Big 12 Conference | Denny Medley\Big 12 Conference)
WIBW-TV Sports Director Andrew Lind is in San Diego for reports on the Jayhawks’ NCAA appearance.
The 36 consecutive NCAA basketball tournaments is the longest streak in NCAA history.
Kansas enters this year’s tournament as the four-seed in the NCAA East bracket, while California Baptist is the 13-seed.
The 25-8 Lancers, out of Riverside, California, are the Western Athletic Conference champions.
They came back from seven points down with just over two minutes to play to defeat Utah Valley University 63-61 in the WAC tournament title game on Saturday in Las Vegas.
Should the Jayhawks win Friday night’s contest, they will square off against the winner of the St. John’s-Northern Iowa game, which will be played at 6:10 p.m. Friday at the Viejas Arena, on the San Diego State University campus.
If Kansas and St. John’s both win their first-round games as the higher seeds, they would square off Sunday in a contest matching two Hall of Fame coaches in Bill Self at Kansas and Rick Pitino at St. John’s.
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