The Kansas women’s basketball team’s run to the NCAA Tournament is now down to this — win at the Big 12 tourney in Kansas City or else.
After a thrilling home win over 20th-ranked Texas Tech last week, the Jayhawks fell flat on the road against Oklahoma State in the regular-season finale, falling 70-56 in Stillwater.
That loss, though certainly not one to be embarrassed about, given that the OSU women are projected to be a No. 8 seed in the Big Dance, likely made it critical for Brandon Schneider’s bunch to win at least a couple of games at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri this week if they want to hear their name called on Selection Sunday.
Two wins might do it. Three almost certainly would. But anything less than that likely leaves the Jayhawks on the outside looking in.
The good news for KU, if you’re into the Bracketology part of all of this, is that one potential Big 12 tournament opponent is also on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
No. 11 KU will open play against No. 14 seed UCF at 8 p.m. Wednesday night on ESPN+.
The Jayhawks handled UCF 83-68 in Orlando early in conference play. If Schneider’s team is able to take down the Knights for a second time, they’ll face No. 6 seed Colorado, a team that defeated the Jayhawks during Big 12 play that is also listed as one of the “Last Four In” on ESPN’s latest Bracketology projection.
Kansas is the last team on the “Next Four Out” list, which essentially has the Jayhawks at No. 76 for inclusion in the 68-team field.
A win over Colorado, a projected 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament, might not be enough to keep KU from sweating out the announcement on March 15th’s Selection Sunday.
But a third win, over No. 3 seed Baylor on Friday, almost certainly would be. That would give the Jayhawks three quality wins in their last four games and six wins in their last seven outings.
KU lost at Baylor, 79-64, during its lone meeting with the Bears this season.
In some ways, the Jayhawks still control their own destiny. And it’s clearly a win and get in situation for this bunch now.
That will start with Wednesday night, where they’ll seek to win each possession, each quarter and the game before moving on to a possible second win on Thursday and whatever else follows. Simply put, Schneider and company aren’t the type to look that far ahead.
And, as they’ve been saying for the past couple of weeks, they’ve been in playoff basketball mode for a while now. So, there will not be any need for Kansas to flip a switch of urgency starting this week.
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