photo by: AP Photo/Bethany Baker

Kansas head coach Bill Self watches as his team takes on Utah during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025, in Salt Lake City.

Provo, Utah — Ahead of Tuesday night’s matchup with BYU, the Kansas men’s basketball team found itself in an unfamiliar position: the No. 5 seed line.

ESPN’s bracketology expert Joe Lunardi dropped the Jayhawks to No. 19 overall, in the aftermath of their 74-67 loss at unranked Utah on Saturday. He placed them in the Seattle site, facing McNeese with No. 4 Michigan State and No. 13 Lipscomb in the other portion of the bracket, as part of the East Regional (Newark, New Jersey).

Jerry Palm of CBS had been ahead of the curve in putting KU on the No. 5 line and as of Monday’s update had the Jayhawks in Providence, Rhode Island, taking on George Mason and paired with St. John’s and Arkansas State, as part of the South Regional (Atlanta).

KU still has a month to improve its positioning, of course, but a No. 5 seed would be unprecedented in Bill Self’s tenure as head coach. The Jayhawks have been a No. 4 seed on three occasions under Self, including last season, and have not made it out of the first weekend in those three tournaments.

The last time they entered the tournament seeded lower than that was a down year under Roy Williams, the 1999-00 season, in which KU at one point lost five of eight games in conference play. The Jayhawks, a No. 8 seed, beat DePaul in overtime in the first round in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, but lost to top-seeded Duke.

KU has not been specifically a No. 5 seed since the 1987 NCAA Tournament, when it benefited from an upset in the other half of its bracket and beat both Houston and Missouri State to reach the Sweet 16, only to lose to No. 1 Georgetown.

The Jayhawks’ positioning in the East Regional by Lunardi and in Providence by Palm is also significant because KU has never played tournament games in the Northeast. The farthest east the Jayhawks have gone for March Madness is Greensboro, North Carolina, for the 1974 Final Four.

KU previously dropped to No. 23 in the AP Top 25 poll on Monday, its lowest ranking since the poll of Feb. 15, 2021.

Coach on the floor

Self said on a recent edition of his “Hawk Talk” radio show that he thought sophomore wing Jamari McDowell would make an excellent coach.

“From a candidate standpoint, to me, he would probably be as big a candidate as anybody we’d have, in trying to do this for a living,” Self said.

McDowell said it was “actually hilarious” and that he had heard the same thing from his tutors.

“I think that’s cool,” McDowell said on a pregame radio interview on Saturday, adding that his academic program as a sports management major overlaps with coaching to some extent. “I think coaching is fun. I have fun being able to do what I do.”

McDowell, a 6-foot-4 sophomore from Manvel, Texas, has been redshirting this year after averaging 7.2 minutes per game in 31 appearances during the 2023-24 campaign, when he was thrust into action because that team had a shallow bench.

His work this year has been as part of KU’s scout team. McDowell also mentioned that he’s been able to put on about 10 pounds, which helps him beat defenders.

“I think he’s been great,” Self said. “He’s improved his stroke quite a bit, and if he was playing right now, he would help us, there’s no doubt about that. I think Jamari has really made the most of his redshirt year thus far.”

“It’s been a different experience,” McDowell added. “I think it’s definitely helped me grow more mentally than anything for sure. I feel like I’m stronger in my mind space. The game, that’s going to come to me … It’s more of just get back to what you used to be and build some confidence. It’s been a bit of a different year, but I’m enjoying the journey for sure.”

Fear of God

KU will wear its second alternate jersey of the month in Saturday’s matchup against Oklahoma State, it announced on Tuesday.

The uniform is a collaboration with streetwear label Fear of God and its founder, fashion designer Jerry Lorenzo. It features a cream-colored jersey with light blue numbers and a red, block-letter “Kansas” underneath, paired with cream shorts and red shoes.

The KU women’s team got the first opportunity to wear these jerseys, as part of its home matchup against UCF on Tuesday night.

Both KU basketball teams previously wore quilt-themed home jerseys (the men on Feb. 11, the women on Saturday) for Black History Month.