Gonzaga forward Anton Watson (22) celebrates after hitting a three over Kansas guard Dajuan Harris Jr. (3) during the second half on Saturday, March 23, 2024 in Salt Lake City. Photo by Nick Krug

The 2025-26 Kansas men’s basketball team compiled plenty of high-quality wins — Iowa State, BYU, Texas Tech, Arizona, Houston — but those didn’t completely offset disappointing losses to the likes of UCF, West Virginia, Cincinnati and Arizona State.

The result was that on Selection Sunday, the Jayhawks wound up as a No. 4 seed, a line lower than they had been projected in the committee’s bracket preview three weeks earlier. It’s the third time since 2019 that KU has ended up on the No. 4 line and the fifth overall in head coach Bill Self’s tenure. Just one of the previous four teams — two very early in Self’s 23 years at KU, two more recent — has made it out of the first weekend of the tournament.

The most successful No. 4 seed under Self was his first, which was also his first-ever team at KU. The 2003-04 Jayhawks, led by the junior trio of Keith Langford, Aaron Miles and Wayne Simien along with freshman J.R. Giddens, encountered a rough 4-4 stretch across late January and early February and ended up tying for second place in the Big 12, then blowing out Missouri before losing to Texas in the league tournament in Dallas.

That result was enough to push KU to No. 16 in the national rankings and earn it a No. 4 seed at the Kansas City, Missouri, site. The Jayhawks swiftly dispatched No. 13 Illinois-Chicago behind 17 points from Giddens despite a brief injury scare for Simien, then got No. 12 seed Pacific in the second round and pulled away late in a game that stayed close until the final 10 minutes.

On they went to St. Louis for regional competition, and again results elsewhere worked in their favor as UAB had knocked out No. 1 seed Kentucky. The Blazers had no such magic against KU, which reached the century mark with 30 points from Simien in a 100-74 victory.

With a trip to the Final Four on the line, the Jayhawks met No. 3 seed Georgia Tech, which had its top scorer B.J. Elder limited to 12 minutes due to injury. That was no matter for the Yellow Jackets, as Jarrett Jack scored 29 points. Giddens was able to send the game to overtime, but Tech outscored KU 13-5 in the extra period and sent the Jayhawks home.

That was as long a run as any No. 4-seeded KU team has managed. The 2006 team, with a wide array of contributors led by freshmen Mario Chalmers and Brandon Rush, came in as a No. 4 seed and promptly suffered the Jayhawks’ second crushing first-round loss in two years, this time to Bradley in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

KU sported an extremely young team that season and started 3-4 but then lost just three games the entire rest of the regular season and earned a share of the Big 12 title, plus the conference’s coach of the year honor for Self. The Jayhawks also took down Oklahoma State, Nebraska and Texas in Dallas for the Big 12 tournament championship and were riding high entering the first round of NCAAs.

They didn’t live up to that standard in any way against Bradley, out of the Missouri Valley Conference, which hit 11 3s, got 21 points from Marcellus Sommerville and withstood KU’s late comeback effort to win 77-73.

Twelve years passed without another No. 4 seed for the Jayhawks — they were a No. 1 or No. 2 nearly every year, besides one season as a No. 3 — until they ended up there in 2019. It was another new-look group with little carryover from the 2018 Final Four team. KU relied on fresh faces like Devon Dotson and Dedric Lawson. By the time KU made it to the postseason it was without Udoka Azubuike due to a season-ending injury and Lagerald Vick following a “leave of absence,” so it was depleted further from a team that had already experienced some unpleasant results in league play. This was the year that broke the Jayhawks’ streak of 14 straight Big 12 titles.

The Jayhawks easily dispatched Northeastern in Salt Lake City, but No. 5 seed Auburn, on its way to its first-ever Final Four, jumped out to a 26-point lead by halftime and cruised to an 89-75 victory to knock KU out.

Salt Lake City was also the site of another grim second-round exit for the Jayhawks five years later, when another injury-depleted team, the once-promising but already thin 2023-24 squad, had to play without Kevin McCullar Jr. and with Hunter Dickinson dealing with a recently dislocated shoulder. A team that was once preseason No. 1 lost 11 games, which was at the time the most under Self, and barely survived a 93-89 nailbiter against endlessly pressing Samford in the first round.

The Jayhawks had enough juice two days later to play Gonzaga to a one-point game at halftime, but the Bulldogs scored 15 straight points early in the second half and ended up winning by 21.

KU may have to face a similar quality of team if it reaches the second round this season, too. Such is the burden of a No. 4 seed.

Kansas guard Devonte’ Graham flashes a wide smile as he and the Jayhawks wait to slap hands with San Diego State players after their 70-57 win, Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2015 at Viejas Arena in San Diego.

OPENING WEEKEND

The Jayhawks’ placement on the No. 4 line also ensured that they will again play first-weekend matchups in an unusual destination far away from home. This year it’s Viejas Arena in San Diego, which serves as the home arena of San Diego State as well as the San Diego Mojo of Major League Volleyball.

Other than for assistant coach Tony Bland, who both played and coached at San Diego State, this won’t be a familiar destination for many of the Jayhawks. As a program, KU is 2-1 in its history in San Diego, including a 70-57 victory against the Aztecs at Viejas Arena on Dec. 22, 2015.

It’s been quite a few years since KU made the trip out to the Pacific time zone for postseason action. Most recent was the 2007 NCAA Tournament, when the Jayhawks beat Southern Illinois but lost to UCLA in second-weekend action in San Jose, California. KU’s other postseason visit to California was four years earlier, also for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight, in Anaheim. This will be the first season in which the Jayhawks have visited the Golden State for the first weekend of the tournament.

Kansas guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (12) drives against Georgetown guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera (4) during the first half on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014 at Verizon Center in Washington D.C.

REGIONAL SITE

Should KU advance past a pair of foes in the tournament’s opening weekend, and make its first trip to the second weekend since that fateful 2022 campaign and second since 2018, the Jayhawks will travel to Washington for the East regional.

KU is 3-1 in its history in matchups played in the nation’s capital, with victories over George Washington, Penn and Georgetown and a lone loss to Maryland on Dec. 7, 1997, as part of the Franklin National Bank Classic. The Jayhawks’ most recent trip was for that road date against Georgetown on Dec. 10, 2014, a 75-70 victory in which Brannen Greene went 5-for-5 on 3-pointers.

Visits to the neighboring states of Maryland and Virginia haven’t been common for KU, either. The Jayhawks beat the Terrapins in College Park in Ted Owens’ first season at the helm and have never played in Virginia.