Kansas coach Bill Self talks to members of the media at the Hyatt Regency Downtown hotel where the Jayhawks arrived in Louisville, KY. Tuesday afternoon. After an open practice event Wednesday at the KFC YUM! Center in Louisville, Kansas plays Maryland Thursday in a Sweet Sixteen matchup.

Louisville, Ky. ? If there ever was a perfect travel day for Kansas University’s basketball team it was Tuesday. The Jayhawks, who flew charter to the home of the Kentucky Derby and the Louisville Cardinals, had absolutely no travel delays, arriving at the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel at 5:10 p.m., Eastern time.

“It’s good to still be playing. It feels good to be here with the warm weather,” KU coach Bill Self said after exiting the bus the team took to the hotel from Louisville International Airport.

“I’m really excited to see the Yum! Center. I hear it’s fabulous,” Self added of the 22,090-seat downtown arena where the Jayhawks will hold an open practice from 3:10 to 4 p.m., today. It’s in advance of Thursday’s NCAA South Regional Sweet 16 game against Maryland, set for 8:40 p.m., Central time.

“It’s been pretty good,” Self said of the team’s itinerary since defeating UConn, 73-61, in a Round of 32 game on Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa. The Jayhawks traveled to Iowa by bus and returned early Sunday morning after the contest.

“It’s been pretty relaxing. We practiced yesterday (Monday) an hour. It was probably average at best. Today we went a little longer (in Allen before leaving at 1 p.m. for Topeka Regional Airport). “Tomorrow we’ll go real short. The guys seem to be loose and focused and certainly I can tell there’s genuine excitement,” Self added.

He said it was nice to be able to actually watch Maryland beat Hawaii, 73-60, on TV on Sunday.

“I took notes,” Self said, “then I watched it again and again afterwards. Usually if I casually watch it (and it’s not upcoming KU foe) I wouldn’t watch it more than once. They are really talented. They play terrific in spurts. They’ve been a lot like us in the tournament so far. We’ve been good in stretches, too. Those are going to be two really good teams playing Thursday.”

It remains to be seen if some crazy travel affects No. 5-seed Maryland (27-8).

“The problem for Maryland,” Self said, “is they had to get back from Spokane (Wash, site of first two games). That’s a long trip for them. It was good we could relax Sunday, get our legs under us and start hitting it hard yesterday.”

Self said Maryland has one of the top teams in the country.

“I said personally as soon as the brackets came out Maryland is mis-seeded,” Self said. “They started the season No. 2 in the country (finishing 18). They were No. 3 six to eight weeks ago. They were ranked ahead of us for a stretch once conference play started. Fortunately for us, we hit our dip in January. Unfortunately for them they hit their dip in February. They fell a little bit. They can play to a 1-seed, there’s no doubt about that. I don’t think anybody can argue that this region has as good a teams left as any region,” added Self, whose overall No. 1-seed Jayhawks would play either No. 2-seed Villanova or No. 3-seed Miami on Saturday in the Elite Eight if the Jayhawks stop the Terps.

Injury update: “We’re fine,” Self said. “Perry (Ellis) got his knee bumped (against UConn in first half) which happens once every two weeks. That’s not a big deal. He’s fine. He’s not missed any time. Frank (Mason III) … we’ve made such a deal out of Frank hangnails,” Self added, smiling. “He’s tired. He’s beat up. I think there’s a lot of people tired and beat up at the end of a six-month season. There’s nothing that’s happened with us to date that would keep us from being less than who we are out there.”

Kurtis to WKU?: KU assistant Kurtis Townsend , who played point guard at Western Kentucky from 1978-80, figures to be a candidate for the school’s head coaching vacancy. Ray Harper resigned last week after three Hilltopper guards were suspended.

“Right now, the biggest thing is no distractions for these guys (Jayhawks) so they can reach as high as they can,” Townsend said in an interview on Steve Gorman SPORTS! as relayed by kentucky.com. “All that stuff ends up working out the way it’s supposed to.”

Townsend played for Western Kentucky after transferring from Menlo (Calif.) Junior College.

“I love Western Kentucky,” Townsend told Gorman. “I found my wife there. She went to school there, too, and is from Nashville originally. … I loved it out there. They care about basketball, I know that.”

More on Turg: Maryland, of course, is coached by former KU guard Mark Turgeon.

“I’ve got great respect for Turg. I actually coached him a year if you could call what I did coaching in those days,” said Self, a member of Larry Brown’s staff in 1986, when Turgeon and the Jayhawks reached the Final Four in Dallas.

“He was really fun to be around.”

Turgeon went 0-6 vs. KU as Texas A&M coach from 2008-11.

“It really doesn’t (hold extra significance playing KU),” Turgeon told reporters on Tuesday as reported by maryland.247sports.com. “The first time I coached against Kansas it was weird, but I was at Texas A&M so I’ve done it five, six, seven times. I’m not sure exactly the number so it’s really not about that. It’s about the Sweet 16. We’re playing the No. 1 seed in the whole tournament, not just our bracket — and it’s a great opportunity for us.”

Noted Terp forward Robert Carter: “We know coach went to Kansas. He always talks about how great of an experience making the Final Four was for him, but nothing this week. Him going to Kansas is not going to help us score any points on the scoreboard on Thursday night.”

“He always tell us about the story where they didn’t get a key rebound to win the game (against Duke at Final Four) and he preaches that almost every day because that’s what we’ve lacked — our defensive rebounding,” added guard Melo Trimble. “He talks about that a lot. That’s pretty much the only story we know about him at Kansas.”

Forward Jake Layman told 247sports.com: “We’re not trying to worry about that stuff (KU ties). We’re just worried about going out there and playing Maryland basketball. Yeah, coach went there and played there. I’m sure he’s excited. We’re just going to go out there and play Maryland basketball and just worry about us playing well.”