KU Bracket Reveal Thread



  • @BeddieKU23 said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    Iowa after how they played this week is a tough matchup. Shoot to 100

    Yeah they don’t defend a lick. ISU 20 balled them. We could lose that game obviously, will be wild.



  • @bskeet said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    Both Iowa and Providence are talented and playing their best right now.

    Providence is kind of mediocre they just won a lot more close games than normal. The kind of thing that evens out over time.



  • @BShark Or it means they know how to close out a game. We have been that team in the past.



  • @BShark said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    @bskeet said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    Both Iowa and Providence are talented and playing their best right now.

    Providence is kind of mediocre they just won a lot more close games than normal. The kind of thing that evens out over time.

    Providence had an absurd record in games under 5 pts. Something like 13-1



  • Nobody on CBS liked us lol



  • Coach cal! Our team has that chemistry, we all lift each other up! That’s Selfs way!



  • Genius questions!



  • @BeddieKU23 Not a huge fan of Iowa in our bracket, but at least they would be an s16 matchup and not the 2nd game of the weekend.



  • Duke, Purdue, Kansas, Arizona. First glance looks like KS vs WI in E8.



  • I can’t complain at all about our path. Tbh there’s no bracket I’d rather have.



  • @FarmerJayhawk said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    I can’t complain at all about our path. Tbh there’s no bracket I’d rather have.

    Yes



  • U saw that ochi is going to be on?



  • @DCHawker said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    Bottom half of Midwest also about as good as could be hoped for…

    Yep



  • I love our bracket. I’ll take our bracket any day over others



  • Bilas has us in the finals against Gonzaga



  • Who did the others pick? My grill was on fire! 🔥🔥🔥



  • They picked TT in con tourney too, boo



  • Alright y’all who is the highest seed to lose on the first round? Which one seed gets bounced first?



  • This has been a glorious week for KU, hasn’t it? How many other bluebloods won their conference tournament?



  • 9:57 Eastern Time start on Thursday. Last game of the night



  • @benshawks08

    Baylor the first 1 seed to lose. Providence as a 4 seed to be upset by South Dakota St. I think UVM can beat Arkansas & St Mary’s has a tough matchup if they face Indiana



  • Our first game is the last of the evening (weird). We play at 8:57 pm Thursday night on Tru TV.



  • @Jethro said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    Our first game is the last of the evening (weird). We play at 8:57 pm Thursday night on Tru TV.

    Jethro where did you see times my friend ? - - only asking cause I need to write them down for my other brackets - where you see the times guy



  • @jayballer67 said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    @Jethro said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    Our first game is the last of the evening (weird). We play at 8:57 pm Thursday night on Tru TV.

    Jethro where did you see times my friend ? - - only asking cause I need to write them down for my other brackets - where you see the times guy

    https://twitter.com/MattNorlander/status/1503170685144911877?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1503170966934986753|twgr^|twcon^s3_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F247sports.com%2Fcollege%2Fkansas%2Fboard%2F103719%2FContents%2Fku-857pm-thursday-trutv-184409142%2F%3Fpage%3D1



  • @Eric-san said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    @BeddieKU23 Not a huge fan of Iowa in our bracket, but at least they would be an s16 matchup and not the 2nd game of the weekend.

    Iowa is a great match up for Kansas. They play fast and aren’t great on defense. If we play them, that game projects to be a track meet which favors Kansas.



  • No access to truTV!



  • KU’s second round game could be an issue because both teams are very strong defensive teams that play at a snails pace. Texas Tech and TCU are comparisons for both Creighton and SDSU in regards to team strengths and pace of play.

    Neither team is going to out athletic KU, but that second round game is going to be a rock fight.





  • @BeddieKU23 - who is your 5/12 upset pick, if any?



  • @mayjay said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    No access to truTV!

    I’ve had great success with the ncaa March madness live app. Simple and easy to use.



  • @Gorilla72

    If I pick one it would be the St Mary’s matchup.

    I think Indiana could win their play-in game and beat the Gaels. Having a big time post player helps their chances in Trace Jackson-Davis and their new coach has NBA playoff experience which should come in handy. They looked like a well coached team in the Big-10 tourney if that’s any indication of what they are capable of doing. We saw how Iowa looked pretty good winning the big-10, Indiana was playing just as well when they dropped a very close game against them that required a 30 foot banked Game Winner. Seems like this Indiana bunch defends, top 25 Kenpom on D so I think this game will be low scoring (also since St Mary’s is top 10 defense on Kenpom). Both teams struggle to score it consistently so it could come down to who has better players, better athletes?

    Saint Mary’s had a good season and got the big win over Gonzaga. No back to back losses on the resume. This a solid squad with a lot of experience. They also tend to lose early as they have 6 first weekend exits in their past 7 tourney appearances. Their only S16 run was on the back of having Matthew Delladova who played in the NBA and won a championship. I’ve seen St Mary’s play and they don’t have NBA guys. This is the lowest seed the Gaels have ever received and personally I think they are over seeded. Now that doesn’t mean much for this game but I could say they are the weakest 5 seed out there due to the conference they come out of. The WCC got 3 bids so it seems like this was a stronger then usual year. They have a 4-5 record against tournament teams. Not exactly the strongest resume for a 5 seed if you ask me.

    The big ‘If’ is Indiana winning the play-in game. I see that happening due to the momentum gained in the Big 10 tournament. Notre Dame at times showed they were decent but I would feel a lot less confident about them beating Saint Mary’s then Indiana.



  • First round Foe:

    Texas Southern- Kenpom #188 (2nd worst team in tourney), #270 offense, #107 defense, #128 tempo

    Schedule- Lost to Oregon 83-66, L -Saint Mary’s 67-58, L- Washington 72-65, L NC St 65-57, L BYU 81-64, W @ Florida 69-54

    Texas A&M CC- Kenpom #243 (worst team in the tourney), #287 offense, #181 defense, #73 tempo

    Schedule- Lost to Texas A&M 86-65, L Minnesota 79-71, Notre Dame 83-73

    Texas Southern does not have a player averaging 10ppg as 8 guys score from 6 to 9 per game. Brishon Gresham played at SMU & Houston previously, 5th leading scorer but leads the team with 2.2 blocks per game. They only average 69 ppg.

    Texas A&M CC is led by Isaac Mushilla, 6’5 Jr averages 13.5ppg & team high 9.5 rebounds per game. Lives at the free throw line with 208 attempts (78%) (tied for 10th in all of NCAA). Small team with only 2/3 guys 6’8.

    Texas Southern is coached by Johnny Jones, former interim coach of Memphis, former coach of LSU. First tourney appearance with him.

    Texas A&M CC is coached by Steve Lutz, former assistant at Creighton & Purdue who took over in 2021.



  • The Chicago factor will be big, but probably not for us. You take Iowa and Wisconsin plunked into our region, and we’re battling two fan bases instead of one. And they’re a heck of alot closer to Chicago than we are. So, we play Iowa, and let’s say we win- we turn around and play Wisconsin potentially? They’re like 3 hours away from Chicago. Ridiculous. I’m also not excited about playing the last game on Thursday night. It appears they want us to lose almost a half day of preparation for the 8/9 matchup. This is unprecedented that a 1 seed has to play this late. Other than those 2 points, I love the bracket we’re in, and am looking for us to overcome all NCAA mischief as we march to the Final Four.



  • @Jethro

    KU has big alumni base in Chicago and we travel well, no concern there. Self with a week to prepare for anyone is extremely dangerous. I would be surprised if we didn’t have a late Saturday tip as well for the 2nd round as long as business is taken care of on Thursday as we expect.

    I seem to recall plenty of 1 seeds playing late on the first day imo. I’d rather have the game a bit earlier personally since 10pm tip for easterners is rough for having to work on Friday but I guess I’ll sleep when I’m dead. As @mayjay has pointed out he’s not sure I even do sleep at this point.



  • @BeddieKU23 said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    @Jethro

    KU has big alumni base in Chicago and we travel well, no concern there. Self with a week to prepare for anyone is extremely dangerous. I would be surprised if we didn’t have a late Saturday tip as well for the 2nd round as long as business is taken care of on Thursday as we expect.

    I seem to recall plenty of 1 seeds playing late on the first day imo. I’d rather have the game a bit earlier personally since 10pm tip for easterners is rough for having to work on Friday but I guess I’ll sleep when I’m dead. As @mayjay has pointed out he’s not sure I even do sleep at this point.

    Chicago is a bastion of KU alumni. I went to school with a bunch of folks from Chicago at KU, so we’ll be well represented. I just don’t like having to take on 2 fanbases from the same conference cheering when we’re supposed to be the 1 seed. Oh well, we always have a target on our backs, so it’s probably much ado about nothing. As for a 1 seed playing the last game of the night, I don’t recall it ever happening. They are definitely doing their best to make sure the East Coast doesn’t watch us. It also cuts into our prep time for the next game. No biggie, though. We’ll sail through to the Final Four, imo.



  • @Jethro said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    The Chicago factor will be big, but probably not for us. You take Iowa and Wisconsin plunked into our region, and we’re battling two fan bases instead of one. And they’re a heck of alot closer to Chicago than we are. So, we play Iowa, and let’s say we win- we turn around and play Wisconsin potentially? They’re like 3 hours away from Chicago. Ridiculous. I’m also not excited about playing the last game on Thursday night. It appears they want us to lose almost a half day of preparation for the 8/9 matchup. This is unprecedented that a 1 seed has to play this late. Other than those 2 points, I love the bracket we’re in, and am looking for us to overcome all NCAA mischief as we march to the Final Four.

    re we even sure both of those will even make it to Chicago ? - - -March Madness



  • @Jethro

    Hopefully our fans bought up after seeing the bracket. We may not have the majority like in KC but I would expect us to pack in for Chicago. There’s also hope Iowa/Wisconsin may not get to Chicago as well. Big-10 hasn’t exactly lit up the tourney of late.

    Iowa hasn’t gotten past the 2nd round under Fran McCaffrey in 5 tournaments. Wisconsin hasn’t left the first weekend with Greg Gard since 2016/17 season (also Bo Ryan’s players). Something tells me to put money on 1 or both not making it that far.



  • @Crimsonorblue22 said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    Who did the others pick? My grill was on fire! 🔥🔥🔥

    Laphonso Ellis picked KU in final 4 losing to Arizona. Seth is a hack so who cares (he didn’t pick KU of course). Reece Davis picked someone else as well.

    Don’t think any of the CBS guys picked KU from what I saw. Watched the bracket brakedown and they had a slobbefest over Iowa/Wisconsin and Auburn being a Top 4 team (they haven’t played like one in at least a month).



  • @BeddieKU23 said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    Bilas has us in the finals against Gonzaga

    I feel like the Zags are definitely one of our worst matchups because of our defensive weakness. I bet they’ll have a day of shooting in the 60%.

    We are capable of playing respectable defense… but it does take a lot of steam out of our sails that we use on offense. However… if we force TOs and missed shots, we are better able to run! We could beat the Zags… but we seriously have to come ready to play defense!

    From here on out… it will be our defense that catapults us to the next round. If we think we can just outscore every team… we are bound to hit a psyched up team that is hot from trey.



  • @drgnslayr I’m hoping we are that psyched up team getting hot from 3 at some point in this tournament. We haven’t had a game like that in a while so we are due.



  • @drgnslayr

    The Zags followed by Arizona are the worst matchups for KU (also the teams most likely to face KU in the final 4/finals in hypotheticals). Their big’s are just different than anything Dave’s had to face in conference play & when he faced a top big in Tschiebwe he was a non-factor. Guess that will be a problem to deal with if we make it that far. At that point it would be a GOOD problem to have



  • We are capable of beating anyone… and beating them NOT because of a fluke. If we come totally pumped, and playing defense like we have in spots during the year, there is no one that can stay with us. And also value possessions… low TOs and decent rebounding. We get several runouts on TOs and quick rebound outlets or someone like Wilson or Martin rebounding and driving the distance. This often leads to wide open treys on secondary breaks. Pushing like this is our natural tempo and very few teams in this country can go at this tempo successfully.

    If we don’t control tempo we will usually be in a dog fight. But I will say that we are mentally tough and never really collapsing in games.

    My hope is Remy continues to come on strong… also we need Wilson to keep having halfs like he did with TT. He was involved on about half of the plays in that second half. Remy needs to continue to think about scoring more and also pushing pace. There is also pace involved in running our half court offense. Fast pace in half court means guys are moving around quickly… with and without the ball. I think this is the most fun offense I have ever seen from KU when that half court pace is blistering!



  • @drgnslayr you know it’s clicking when Och starts getting open looks against “the best defense in the country.” When we play with pace we are just so tough to stop.



  • @BeddieKU23 said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    @Jethro

    Hopefully our fans bought up after seeing the bracket. We may not have the majority like in KC but I would expect us to pack in for Chicago. There’s also hope Iowa/Wisconsin may not get to Chicago as well. Big-10 hasn’t exactly lit up the tourney of late.

    Iowa hasn’t gotten past the 2nd round under Fran McCaffrey in 5 tournaments. Wisconsin hasn’t left the first weekend with Greg Gard since 2016/17 season (also Bo Ryan’s players). Something tells me to put money on 1 or both not making it that far.

    TBF to Fran McCaffery, Iowa has only been better than a 7 seed once in their last 5 tournaments so it’s also not like they were expected to make it past the first weekend outside of last season.

    Gard has had some tournament success beating a higher seeded team in all but one of his appearances.



  • KU ended up 3rd in the Nation in the final poll of the Season behind Gongaza & Arizona



  • Honestly I would put Providence on upset alert. And then the most fun game of the tournament might be SDSU vs Iowa. Both ELECTRIC offenses. Will be a race to 100.



  • The least watchable game of the 1st round is LSU vs. ISU. First to 50



  • Here’s my thoughts on our side of the bracket.

    TSU/ A&M-CC, those two are 16 seeds for a reason and are the two lowest ranked Kenpom teams in the field. I would expect KU to win that by 20+ points.

    The 8/9 is honestly my biggest worry until the Elite 8. I said in an above post that Creighton and San Diego St. are both slow tempo teams that are defensive minded and are similar to Tech and TCU in that regard. Those two are on the same seed line as TCU is so Those TCU games are probably the best comparison for what KU’s second round game will look like and 2/3 of the TCU games were slow, ugly basketball and I can easily see that game being a big struggle for Kansas.

    Our 4 potential S16 match ups are Providence, Iowa, Richmond, and South Dakota St. Iowa and South Dakota St. are ranked 2nd and 4th nationally in PPG. I could see us playing any of those teams but Richmond honestly. Kenpom absolutely hates Providence and only has them as the 49th best team surrounded by mostly double digit seeded teams. I’m sure this is going to be a very trendy upset pick based the the clash of styles with SDSU.

    Iowa is an elite offense and I think is the most capable of KU’s 4 potential S16 match ups of beating Kansas. Their weakness is their defense which is ranked 237 in PPG allowed and 77th in adjusted rankings by Kenpom.

    Richmond is the least likely of KU’s potential S16 opponents because they are the worst team of these 4 and Iowa is not a good match up for them.

    South Dakota St. is a very interesting possible match up because they are basically a clone of Iowa in terms of style of play. They’re 2nd in the nation in scoring average and 281st in scoring defense. I think they beat Providence in round and play an epic, high scoring, highly entertaining game against Iowa. SDSU also loves launching 3’s and are very good at making 45% of their 3’s as a team this season. They are very dangerous team no matter who they play because of how well they shoot the ball.



  • @Kcmatt7 said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    Honestly I would put Providence on upset alert. And then the most fun game of the tournament might be SDSU vs Iowa. Both ELECTRIC offenses. Will be a race to 100.

    Providence is only a 2 point favorite against SDSU and haven’t beaten a really good team in awhile. I think that’s going to be the trendiest upset pick of the first round.



  • @Kcmatt7 said in KU Bracket Reveal Thread:

    The least watchable game of the 1st round is LSU vs. ISU. First to 50

    Creighton and San Diego St. should be pretty unwatchable too. Both are very slow tempo teams with bad offenses. That’s another game that could easily be a first to 50 type game. At least with LSU, they’re a team that tries to play somewhat fast so if they get it going, that game could be a blowout for LSU.


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