No. 3 seed disappoints fans, but OKC’s OK

A collective sigh could be heard Sunday at Henry T’s Bar & Grill as Kansas University’s NCAA Tournament pairing was announced.

It wasn’t a sigh of relief that the Jayhawks were playing in nearby Oklahoma City. It was one of disappointment at the team’s seeding.

The Jayhawks, who had been pitched as a potential No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed before Saturday’s conference tournament loss to Oklahoma State, were instead announced as a No. 3 seed. KU will play 14th-seeded Bucknell at 8:50 p.m. Friday, or 30 minutes after the end of the 6:20 p.m. game, at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.

“I was a little disappointed to see we came out as a 3 seed,” said fan Britt DeTienne, who was watching the selection show at Henry T’s, 3520 W. Sixth St. “I really hoped we were going to be a No. 2. It’s a tough bracket. It’s definitely going to be an uphill battle. They’re going to have to play well every night to get to the Final Four again.”

If the Jayhawks do win two games in Oklahoma City, as they did during when they played there in 2003, they would head to Syracuse, N.Y., for the Sweet Sixteen.

KU officials were pleased tournament bracket-crafters sent the team to a locale that’s less than five hours away.

“I think it’s great for our fans,” said KU spokesman Jim Marchiony. “It’s good for our team not to travel so far, and it’s good for our fans to get there.”

Getting there may be easy, but getting a ticket might be more difficult.

The Ford Center has been sold out for weeks, and KU — like all other universities — is allotted only 550 tickets. Once tickets are doled out to family and KU staff, only 250 to 300 passes will be available for sale, and those have been committed to Williams Fund donors who have the most “points” under the university’s new fund-raising system, Marchiony said.

Senior guard-forward Michael Lee answers questions during a press conference Sunday at the Memorial Stadium Press Box. The Jayhawks will enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed. They will face 14th-seeded Bucknell in the first round Friday. The game is set for 8:50 p.m.

There appear to be plenty of session passes available through ticketbrokers for those willing to pay the price. One, www.tickco.com, had tickets ranging in price from $160 for one game to $1,440 for a weekend pass. One pair on the online auction house eBay for the weekend was going for more than $900.

Jennifer Sanner, vice president of the KU Alumni Association, said she expected a big KU crowd in Oklahoma City, even with the possible ticket challenges. After all, she said, Oklahoma City is right between Lawrence and one of its largest alumni bases, Dallas.

“Absolutely, it’s a great location,” she said. “We’ll have people coming from north and south. With luck we’ll draw very big crowds. We should feel pretty comfortable down there.”

The Alumni Association is planning pep rallies two hours before tipoff at the Bricktown Brewery, which is near the Ford Center. Most of the weekend’s activities surrounding the tournament will be centered in Bricktown, the downtown bar district of Oklahoma City.

Kent Houk, vice president of Travellers Inc., 831 Mass., said the travel agency had about 50 calls in the first hour after the site selection announcement from KU fans wanting to find hotels in Oklahoma City.

3KU’s NCAA seed550Number of tickets available to KU250-300Number KU expects to sell to donors0Tickets available to general public through KU317Miles to OKC from Lawrence$29.54Gas cost, round trip, to OKC in a Honda Civic$61.89Cost, round trip, in a Ford ExplorerSources: KU Athletics, AAA, www.fueleconomy.gov

He said he figured many fans already made plans before Sunday’s announcement, because many were banking on KU playing in Oklahoma City.

“It’s become something where a lot of folks plan in advance,” Houk said. “We know KU will be in the tournament. I’d imagine there will be a lot of fans headed down there. KU got a good draw going to Oklahoma City.”

KU will practice from 6 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. Thursday at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. It’s free and open to the public.

If KU beats Bucknell, it’ll play the winner of the Wisconsin-Northern Iowa matchup at 3:50 p.m. Sunday, or 30 minutes after the end of the 1:20 p.m. game, in Oklahoma City.

And that, KU students Matt Herrington said, should help the team win down the stretch.

“We’ve always played better when we’ve got to win,” he said.

Herrington, a junior from St. Louis, said he wasn’t planning to go to Oklahoma City this weekend. But if the Jayhawks get to the Final Four, he’ll head back home for the games.

“Definitely,” he said.

— 6News reporter Deanna Richards contributed to this report.