For years, back when Kansas basketball dominated the Big 12, the Jayhawks got awfully used to looking at the NCAA Tournament sites well in advance with absolute knowledge that they were headed to the city closest to KU’s campus for first- and second-round games.
Omaha. Oklahoma City. Tulsa. St. Louis. Des Moines. Wichita. Kansas City.
Any time any of those sites were on the schedule, the Jayhawks were damn near a lock to be there. That’s usually because the Jayhawks were a No. 1 or No. 2 seed, and, as you all know, those teams get preferential treatment in the bracket in terms of being allowed to play closer to home.
Fast-forward to recent years and the scene has been drastically different.
That includes this year, when Kansas, a No. 4 seed, will head to San Diego later this week to open play in the 2026 NCAA Tournament against No. 13 seed Cal-Baptist on Friday night.
The trip west, when both Oklahoma City and St. Louis were in play, represents the continuation of a recent trend. Because the Jayhawks have more frequently been seeded lower in the tournament in recent years, they have been sent to tournament sites farther away in each of the past three years.
Salt Lake City in 2024. Providence in 2025. San Diego this year.
Reason to fret?
Not exactly. While they didn’t fare well in either of the past two tournaments — and haven’t made it to the second weekend for a Sweet 16 matchup since the 2022 national title run —their tournament fate was as much about each team’s shortcomings as where they were playing.
Now in his 23rd season at Kansas, Self said on Sunday night, after the bracket was released, that he has learned a lot during his 2+ decades at KU. And the importance of tournament destination has been one of the biggest lessons.
“A lot of times what you wish for isn't what you really want,” he began, likely using the benefit of hindsight that taught him such a lesson. “And a lot of times what you hope doesn't happen can turn out to be a benefit.”
Translated into more simple terms — don’t worry about the mules, just load the wagon. You might’ve heard that somewhere before.
For what it's worth — maybe a lot, maybe nothing — Self said that San Diego would have been his top pick of the rest of the sites if he had been told that KU would not wind up closer to home in OKC or St. Louis, adding, "So, yeah. I like where we're going."
While Self acknowledges that playing in hometown locales like Wichita or Kansas City can provide a huge advantage for the Jayhawks, anything short of that doesn’t move the needle quite enough for him to worry about it.
His example: Getting 4,000 KU fans to Oklahoma City would be cool, but “it doesn't seem to quite measure up in the tournament like it does during a regular season (game) or even during a conference tournament. It's a little bit unusual unless you can just stay at home the whole time.”
That’s rarely an option and even less likely if you’re not one of the top seeds.
So, Kansas will head out on the road again, where Self will inevitably say that the team can keep a tighter circle, bond together and focus solely on the job at hand.
Scenes from KU's arrivals at various away games from earlier this season. [Kansas Athletics photos]
Salt Lake City is roughly 1,000 miles from KU’s campus and, when they played there in 2024, the Jayhawks went 1-1 and came home. Providence is 1,400 miles from KU’s campus and the Jayhawks were one-and-done there last year, losing to 10th-seeded Arkansas as a No. 7 seed in the first round.
This week’s trek to San Diego is KU’s farthest recent NCAA Tournament journey, with San Diego State’s Viejas Arena sitting more than 1,600 miles from Lawrence. It also represents the third-farthest NCAA Tournament trip that the Jayhawks have taken in the last 50 years.
Only trips to San Jose in 2007 (Sweet 16 win over Southern Illinois & Elite Eight loss to UCLA) and Eugene, Oregon in 1978 (Round 1 loss to UCLA) required the Jayhawks to travel farther between 1976 and 2025.
San Jose is roughly 1,800 miles from KU’s campus and Eugene is nearly the same distance at about 1,770 miles.
None of this will matter when the opening tip goes up and the players are running up and down the floor, of course. At that point, it’s about matchups and execution and heart and desire.
That’s why one of Self’s most meaningful comments from Sunday night’s post-bracket press conference stuck with me.
“I'm good with whatever,” he said, uttering words that a younger somewhat more superstitious Self may not have said.
Those words illustrate that, as much as he’s learned, as many different ways as he has done it and as close or as far as KU plays, the team still has to play well to advance in the bracket.
Anything short of that and the only distance that will matter then is the number of months between their last game and the start of next season.
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