Here’s Bill Self’s take on KU Jayhawks’ NCAA Tournament adventure beginning in Utah

Bill Self didn’t know if his formerly No. 1-ranked Kansas Jayhawks, losers of four of their last five games, would be shipped as far away as Spokane, Washington, as close as Omaha, Nebraska — or one of the NCAA Tournament’s other six first-and-second-round locales — until seeding assignments were announced Sunday.

It turns out Self’s Jayhawks (22-10), as the Midwest Regional’s No. 4-seeded team, will travel to Salt Lake City for a first-round clash on Thursday against No. 13-seed Samford (29-5) of the Southern Conference.

“I didn’t have any feel on where they would send us, none,” Self, KU’s 21st-year head basketball coach, said Sunday night.

Tipoff is 8:55 p.m. Central Time at the Delta Center, home of the Utah Jazz. The game will be shown live on TBS.

Win Thursday and the Jayhawks would meet either No. 5 seed Gonzaga or No. 12 McNeese State in the second round on Saturday. Then, the winner of that game will head to Detroit for a Sweet 16 game on Friday, March 29.

“I think Salt Lake is fine,” Self said. “We’ve been there before (in 2019 when KU beat Northeastern and lost to Auburn). It’s a fantastic arena and I think that’s fine. ...

“I don’t know what the altitude is in Salt Lake,” he added.

Informed that Salt Lake City perches 4,200 feet above sea level, Self noted: “It’s not 7,000, like Laramie or Denver. I remember playing there a couple years ago. I don’t remember that factoring into the situation.”

Self said he expected the seed the Jayhawks received, the fourth No. 4 in his 21 seasons at KU.

KU has been a 1-seed 10 times and 2- and 3-seeds three times apiece. There was no tourney in 2019-20.

“There wasn’t any chance in my mind we’d be anything but a 4-seed,” Self said. “The thing that could have possibly thrown it off … does Wisconsin, if they beat Illinois, do they move up to the 4-line off the 5-line?”

Instead, Wisconsin lost to the Illini on Sunday in the championship game of the Big Ten tournament.

“There could be a couple things like that happen. Then it would have impacted one of the 4s. I don’t think it would have impacted us because they said we were 14th (overall seed), meaning we were the second No. 4 seed. I think we would have been safe on the 4-line regardless.”

Self said the Jayhawks face a tough opening-round opponent and difficult potential second-round foe.

“Everybody’s going to say, ‘They got a hard draw.’ I think we got a hard draw,” Self said.

“When you think about Samford, what have we labored with the most this year? That’s teams that shoot a ton of 3s. We have a hard time making up the difference. They shoot over 39% (335 of 852) as a group. They scored over 100 (points) five times this year. I don’t know if we scored 90 five times this year. Of course I know the competition in some of those games is different.”

KU scored 90 or more in six games; Samford scored 90 or more in 10. The Bulldogs scored over 100 in five contests.

“They can score. They shoot a ton of 3s. Their 5-man (6-foot-9 Achor Achor) makes 45% of his 3s,” Self said of Samford. “On paper looking at it and not knowing all their personnel the way we will here shortly, I’d say it’s an extremely difficult matchup. Then, if you are fortunate enough to win the first one, who is it in the second game? McNeese won 31 games and Gonzaga is Gonzaga. There’s nothing easy about the bracket we’re in. I’m sure the other four seeds probably feel the same thing in their respective brackets.”

Purdue is the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Regional and Tennessee is seeded No. 2.

Self, who watched the Selection Sunday show before meeting with reporters, said the KU players “were happy our name’s called.”

“There’s a lot of teams out there not happy right now,” he continued, “but I don’t think there was much of a reaction (in the room when KU was announced). I think it was pretty much expected. What was not known is who you are playing, or where you are playing them. Certainly Samford got our attention when I started seeing some of their stats and started reading them to our guys.”

The mood of the KU team is good entering the NCAAs despite the squad’s early exit from the Big 12 tourney, Self said.

Hunter Dickinson (shoulder injury) has practiced the past two days and Kevin McCullar (bone bruise, knee) is expected to be back at practice on Monday, Self said.

“I think the time off was good for us,” Self said.

The Jayhawks lost to Cincinnati last Wednesday at the Big 12 tourney in Kansas City.

“I think we can make a run,” he said. “I think we can still play great basketball. I think we will. It’s been a chance to reset and get focused and a chance to get more healthy that I think will go a long ways for how we play moving forward.

“We didn’t put ourselves in the best position, but there are a lot of teams out there that would love to be in the position we are in.”