WICHITA, Kan. — Las Vegas isn’t alone.
Bill Self agrees with the oddsmakers that Thursday afternoon’s matchup against Ivy League champion Penn won’t be the typical No. 1 versus No. 16 blowout.
“We know that we have a very difficult draw with Penn,” the Kansas coach said Wednesday. “My personal opinion is they don’t resemble a 16-seed at all.”
Kansas (27-7) opened as a 15 ¹/₂-point favorite in the Midwest Region opener, and the line has now fallen to 13.5. According to bookmaker.eu, the previous No. 1 seed to have a smaller first-round spread was Memphis versus Oral Roberts in 2006. The Tigers were 10½-point favorites and prevailed 94-78. Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, a No. 1 has never lost to a No. 16.
“We know that they pose some issues for us if we don’t come ready to play, and they certainly have our attention,” Self said.
Penn (24-8) was picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League and got off to a mediocre 5-4 start, but closed the season red-hot, winning 12 of its last 14 games. The Quakers defeated Dayton and St. Joseph’s of the Atlantic 10 in non-conference play, and also faced Villanova, the No. 1 seed in the South, losing by 28 points. It was a surprise to see the Ivy champion seeded so low, after the league had fared well in the tournament the last several years, pulling off upsets three of the previous five years.
“I’m going to say we were a little surprised by it, but at the same time we’re excited,” forward AJ Brodeur said. “Like that’s an opportunity for us. All season we’ve been kind of counted out. We’ve been under-appreciated, I think, in our league, and I think that as time goes on, we’re able to prove more and more of what we’re capable of doing.
“This is just another example, and we’re going to just try to go out there [on Thursday] and show what we can do.”
Balanced and deep, four of Penn’s five starters average in double-figures, and they share the ball, distributing 15.5 assists per game. The most interesting aspect of the game should be the 3-point line, where the Jayhawks shoot 40.3 percent. But that’s where Penn excels as well, holding the opposition to 29.2 percent from deep, the second-lowest figure in the country. Kansas’ advantage in the paint may not be quite as pronounced, either, as standout big man Udoka Azubuike (knee) will be a game-time decision, and Self doesn’t expect him to play major minutes.
Kansas, of course, is still formidable, coming off its 14th straight Big 12 regular-season title. It has the Big 12 Player of the Year and Naismith Award finalist in Devonte’ Graham, features four other players who average at least 12.0 points per game, and will be basically at home, playing a little more than 150 miles from campus. But the Jayhawks don’t expect this to be a walkover. They are wary of Penn and don’t want to become an answer to a trivia question.
“You don’t really want to be that team that does it,” Graham said. “You kind of have it in the back of your head.”
