Are Arkansas and Kansas Star-Crossed Lovers?

The latest round of bracketology dropped Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks to a No. 4 seed in the first round with No. 13 High Point in Philadelphia. The No. 5 seed on the opposite end? Arkansas.

All but finalized, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament could very well include another meeting between Kansas and John Calipari‘s Razorbacks in the second round. Arkansas, then a No. 10 seed, knocked No. 7 Kansas out of the first round of last year’s tourney; No. 3 Texas Tech kept Arkansas out of the Elite Eight before themselves succumbing to top seed Florida. It’d be the third time in four years that Kansas and Arkansas would meet in the NCAA Tournament (Arkansas is 2-0 in those meetings).

The Self-Calipari coaching series is tied 7-7 following last year’s Kansas loss.

It’s not just basketball, either. The Razorbacks have thumped Kansas in baseball (last year’s NCAA regional in two games) and football with the memorable 2022 Liberty Bowl victory in overtime.

Kansas (21-9, 11-6 Big 12) closes its regular-season run with an all-too-winnable Sunflower Showdown with Kansas State (12-18, 3-14 Big 12) on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. Granted the Jayhawks avoid the nuclear bomb that loss would be, the upcoming league tournament is a real chance to avoid Arkansas.

Arkansas is 22-8 overall and tied with Alabama for second in the SEC at 12-5 entering one final road trip to 20-10 Missouri to end the season this weekend. No. 4 is as high as Joe Lunardi has placed Arkansas this season, and after allowing 100-plus points in each of its last top-25 matchups with No. 25 Alabama and No. 7 Florida, it makes sense why.

KenPom ranks the Razorback one seat higher than Kansas at No. 19 overall, but lists the Jayhawks’ schedule as the toughest in the country. And while the Big 12 has been a gauntlet for this particular Bill Self team at times, it doesn’t change the fact that Arkansas brings one of the highest-scoring offenses (90.3 ppg) to the table and a star freshman in Darius Acuff Jr. (22.2 ppg, 3.0 ppg, 6.4 apg).

Darryn Peterson and Kansas are finally putting sustainable minutes on the floor, but it’s already March and one has to wonder whether too much time off the floor has inhibited his ability to become the tournament hero we’d all hoped he’d become by this point. It’s not a question of his talent, but whether this team, following what’s easily the worst loss of the season, a 70-60 road loss at Arizona State, is best off with a team like Arkansas in the second round.

The Big 12 tournament can only help Kansas, which should slot in as a 4-seed and avoid the Tuesday-Wednesday slate altogether when the league unites in Kansas City, Missouri, next week.