After much tension, anticipation and deliberation, the brackets have been drawn and the No. 16 seed Boston University men’s basketball team will face the No. 1 seed University of Kansas on Friday, Mar. 18 in Tulsa, Okla.
The Terriers (21-13, 12-4) will be making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002, a year in which they were also a No. 16 seed, losing 90-52 to the No. 1 seed University of Cincinnati.
This marks the second straight year that coach Bill Self and the Jayhawks (32-2, 1-2) will be a No. 1 seed, having been the tournament’s overall No. 1 seed last year, only to lose 69-67 in the second round to the University of Northern Iowa.
Kansas, the Big 12 regular season and tournament champions, have responded well in the 2010-11 campaign after losing top players in guard Sherron Collins, guard Xavier Henry and center Cole Aldrich to the NBA. They are led by the Morris twins — forwards Marcus and Markieff — who average 17.3 and 13.6 points per game, respectively. Markieff leads the team in rebounds with 8.2 per game, while Marcus ranks second with 7.2 rebounds per game.
While BU is playing in its first NCAA Tournament in nearly a decade, Kansas will be making its 22nd straight tournament appearance this March.