Kansas Jayhawks to find out their NCAA Tournament fate on Selection Sunday

Nobody knows for sure where the NCAA Tournament Committee will seed Kansas men’s basketball — and where members will ship the Jayhawks — on Selection Sunday.

One thing is for certain, however.

The Jayhawks’ recent skid — KU at 22-10 overall has lost four of five games and eight of the last 15 — has the country’s preseason No. 1 team facing the possibility of a long road trip for first- and possible second-round games. Also on tap is maybe the worst NCAA Tourney seeding in the 21-year Bill Self era.

“The thing is,” KU coach Self said on last week’s Hawk Talk radio show, “the way we have played the last month regardless of injuries or whatever — they are part of the game — the way we played makes the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament harder.

“Instead of being a 2-seed (and headed to Omaha for first- and second-round games followed by Midwest Regional Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games in Detroit) — you are not (a 2-seed). The first game will be a very tough game. The second game is a coin-flip game. How it works in the tournament ... teams that are 4, 5, 6, 8 seeds have played for the national championship, but played very well in those coin-flip games. For us, the start of the tournament will be a little different. We can’t play poorly and have success.”

KU will learn its postseason assignment during Sunday’s Selection Sunday show (5 p.m., CBS).

The Jayhawks, who have been seeded No. 1 a total of 10 times in Self’s first 20 seasons at KU and been seeded No. 2, 3 and 4 three times apiece (there was no tourney in 2019-20), will receive a No. 4 seed, according to leading bracketologist Joe Lunardi of ESPN.

Lunardi does not have the fourth-seeded Jayhawks headed to nearby Omaha, however (the NCAA often keeps top four seeds close to home). He has Iowa State as a No. 2 seed and Baylor as a No. 3 seed occupying the Big 12s spots in Nebraska for first- and second-round action Thursday and Saturday.

Lunardi has the Jayhawks headed to Spokane, Washington, a city located 1,580 miles from Lawrence.

KU, according to Lunardi, would play No. 13 seed Charleston in the first round on Friday. According to Lunardi, If KU wins that game, it’d meet No. 5 seed South Carolina or a potential No. 12 seed in Sunday’s second-round contest.

As part of the East Regional, two wins would send the Jayhawks to Boston. Lunardi has UConn and Tennessee as the top two teams in that East Regional.

It should be noted that bracketologist Jerry Palm of CBSsports.com also has the Jayhawks seeded No. 4 and off to Spokane for the first round. Situated in the West Regional, he has the Jayhawks playing either No. 5 seed South Carolina or No. 12 VCU in the second round.

Also, Mike DeCourcy, who makes bracket projections for Fox Sports, lists KU as a No. 3 seed even after the Jayhawks’ second-round Big 12 tournament loss to Cincinnati. He has the Jayhawks playing Colgate in a first-round East Regional game. He did not assign teams to specific cities.

These projections were made before Saturday’s conference tournament games. It’s possible the bracketologists will update their picks before the Selection Sunday show.

Here are the sites for first- and second-round NCAA Tournament action: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York (Friday, Sunday); Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina (Thursday, Saturday); Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis (Friday, Sunday); CHI Health Center, Omaha, Nebraska (Thursday, Saturday); PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh (Thursday, Saturday); Delta Center, Salt Lake City (Thursday, Saturday); Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena (Friday, Sunday); FedEx Forum, Memphis (Friday, Sunday).

The East Regional semifinal and final games will be held at TD Garden in Boston on March 28-30. The South Regional games are set for American Airlines Center in Dallas on March 29-31. The Midwest Regional games will be held in Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on March 29-31. The West Regional games will be contested in Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on March 28-30.

The Final Four is set for Phoenix’s State Farm Stadium on April 6 and 8.