No. 1 Kansas reigns among all-time greats

OMAHA, Neb.—The Midwest Region could be called the NCAA Tournament’s Blue Blood Bracket.

Top three seeds Kansas, Duke and Michigan State have combined for 271 wins in 118 tournament appearances, 39 Final Fours and 10 national championships— and all could be in Omaha for the Sweet 16 in two weeks.

Kansas is a No. 1 seed for a third straight year after casting aside any doubts about its worthiness with a dominant three-game run through the Big 12 Tournament. The Jayhawks open in Wichita, Kansas, with a Thursday game against Penn.

Duke, runner-up to Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia in the regular season, plays Iona on Thursday in Pittsburgh. Michigan State , the Big Ten regular-season champ, meets Bucknell on Friday in Detroit.

Kansas coach Bill Self, whose team has lost in regional finals the last two years, said the Jayhawks’ path sets up well if they can beat Penn and then No. 8 Seton Hall or No. 9 North Carolina State. Wichita is a 2½-hour drive from their campus in Lawrence, and Omaha is three hours to the north. They played first- and secondgames in Omaha in 2008, 2012 and 2015.

“The advantage is your fans get an opportunity to come see you play,” Self said. “We have never been to Wichita and look forward to doing that. (If) we’re fortunate to win two games, Omaha is kind of a home away from home during the NCAA Tournament.”

Kansas is among three Big 12 teams in the Midwest, with TCU earning a No. 6 seed and Oklahoma a No. 10.

The inclusion of the Sooners, who lost eight of their last 10 to finish 18-13, raised some eyebrows. NCAA Selection Committee chairman Bruce Rasmussen, the athletic director at Creighton, said OU’s case was buoyed by quality nonconference wins.

“We look at the entire body of work,” Rasmussen said. “The games in November and December count the same as the games in February and March, and Oklahoma had six wins against top-35 RPI. They had some absolutely great wins. We know they stumbled down the stretch and that certainly affected their seeding, but they had enough on their resume to get in.”

The region has three ACC teams, with Clemson joining Duke and North Carolina State.