The Latest Breaking News from Bill Self

A huge second half vs. Miami was a reminder that the Jayhawks are the highest seed still standing.

The Jayhawks got it done Sunday with a dizzyingly good second half at the United Center, outscoring Miami by 32 points in a 76-50 Midwest Region final. At last in this tournament, a 1 seed stood up and declared itself worthy.

“We’re ecstatic,” Self said. A blue-blood coach with a lifetime contract ought to be.

It’s Jayhawks-Friars followed by Hurricanes-Cyclones in Friday’s Sweet 16 matchups at the United Center.

CHICAGO — Analytics guru Ken Pomeroy provided Providence College’s men’s basketball team a rallying cry recently when his metrics deemed coach Ed Cooley’s Friars the “luckiest” of the NCAA’s 358 Division I programs.

We pick the most pivotal players for the Sweet 16 teams as the tournament picks up again Thursday.

Plus, which No. 1 seed could be next to go out?

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Standing in a corridor of the T-Mobile Center after Kansas swamped West Virginia, 87-63, in the Big 12 tournament semifinals, Kansas Jayhawks senior Ochai Agbaji paused to consider the undercurrent of a moment that somehow seemed normal enough but actually was an anguishing few years in…

Bill Self’s team is brimming with confidence after its Big 12 title. But will a region full of talent challenge a Jayhawks squad poised to make a run?