Bill Self reacts to NCAA Tournament selection committee’s first Top 16 reveal

No. 6 Kansas put their road woes behind them for Saturday’s game at No. 25 Oklahoma, defeating the Sooners 67-57.

Before the final buzzer sounded, however, the NCAA Selection Committee released their current rankings for the Top 16 teams in next month’s tournament if the season ended today. Kansas was slotted as a 2-seed (8th overall) in the West Region during the initial reveal, which Jayhawks head coach Bill Self reacted to after the win.

“That will change a lot from now and four weeks from now,” Self said postgame. “At least we put ourselves in a position to still play for what we want to play for. We’re not out of it by any stretch, but certainly, I don’t think that we’re quite where we had hoped we were as of three or four weeks ago.”

Self has coached Kansas to the NCAA Tournament every season (minus 2020’s canceled tournament) since taking over the program in 2003, including two championship wins and four Final Four appearances. He knows how important the final stretch of regular season games can be to his team’s tournament resume. More importantly, Self has a knack of getting his teams to play their best basketball during these late year stretches.

With multiple chances still left during the regular season to improve their rankings, Kansas knows it has to continue to defend home court and in the final stretch — steal a road win or two before heading into the conference tournament.

“We’ve got two more,” Self said of Kansas’ upcoming road schedule. “The biggest thing is we got to focus on getting rested and then holding serve at home. I got a feeling when we go on the road the last two games that we will be a turned up team, especially with who we are playing. But it was good that we got one today. They’ve been really hard to come by for us in league play.”

Looking ahead, Kansas will remain inside Allen Fieldhouse for the rest of February, but start March with a road trip to No. 12 Baylor. They’ll return home for senior day against Kansas State the following game before rounding out the regular season on the road at No. 3 Houston.

Before the Jayhawks can focus on their upcoming road schedule, they’ll have to defend their home court against Texas this coming Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET live on ESPN.