It’s time to seriously start thinking about an NCAA Tournament without Kansas as a real contender. This has been the year from hell for Bill Self and his squad. The Jayhawks have lost six of the last 10 games including a two-game skid.
But the most alarming thing is the Jayhawks are unranked for the first time this season in over four years. That’s how bad this season has been for Self and his squad. Kansas has spiraled so badly this year, it prompted Self to issue a statement after a loss.
Yeah, things are that bad right now in Lawrence. Which is why it’s getting less far-fetched to think this is the year Kansas is knocked out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
If Self can’t figure out why his team can’t win games they are supposed to right now, Kansas will enter the field as one of the coldest teams in the country.
Is Bill Self's team stunningly in danger of missing the tourney?
Per Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology update, Kansas is projected to be a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. That would be their lowest seed in the NCAA Tournament in more than two decades, per Sports Illustrated.
So yeah, if you think Kansas is in the danger zone of becoming an early-round casualty, you're not wrong. The Jayhawks have been synonymous with the NCAA Tournament in years past, but those days are over — or at least on hold.
They’ve been upset as a favorable seed, they’ve won national championships, they’ve had tournament runs come up short. But it seems like no matter what, Kansas is always in the mix of the NCAA Tournament.
This year, it’s more likely they get left out than make it past the first round at this point. It’s been a season the Jayhawks can’t wait for it to be over. They’ve lost to teams they’ve had no business losing to.
Self can’t identify what has gone wrong with this squad and now they look more like an NIT team than a second weekend tourney team. This isn’t me overreacting, this is a wild reality.
If Kansas ends the regular season with a loss to Arizona, it would be a third-straight loss to end the season and pretty much mean they would need a conference tournament run to give fans any hope of something magical happening in March Madness.