17 March 2024
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KSNT) — For the 34th consecutive season, Kansas men’s basketball is headed to the Big Dance.
The Jayhawks will be a four-seed in the 2024 NCAA tournament. The bracket was revealed during the Selection Show on Saturday.
Kansas will play 13-seed Samford in the Round of 64. The team will travel to Salt Lake City for the first weekend. The game against Samford will be played on Thursday, March 21.
Bill Self’s squad will hope to get back all-Big 12 players, Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar Jr., for the opening game. The duo, which combines for nearly half KU’s points per game on average, did not play in the conference tournament. After the Jayhawks’ loss to Cincinnati in the Big 12 tournament, Self said McCullar Jr. could have played if it was an NCAA tournament game, but Dickinson couldn’t have.
A four-seed matches KU’s worst tournament selection in the Bill Self era. Kansas was last a four-seed in the 2019 tournament. The selection comes due to a rocky ending to the regular season and a round-one loss in the Big 12 tournament. KU’s eight regular season conference losses this season are its most in more than 30 years.