Kansas Basketball: Ranking the last 29 NCAA Tournament teams

21. 2013-14 (25-10) (14-4 Big 12)

Head coach Bill Self hasn’t always had the best of regular seasons by his own standards with the Jayhawks. During the 2013-14 campaign, Self suffered the one and only 10-loss season of his career with Kansas.

Andrew Wiggins, Wayne Selden, Joel Embiid and Frank Mason were all entering as freshmen, while Perry Ellis and Naadir Tharpe were the only experienced players returning in the rotation. Their youth was bound to haunt them at some point and it came early in the year.

The Jayhawks still managed to finish the regular season 14-4 in league action, taking home their 10th consecutive regular season title, but it was clear there were chinks in the armor during non-conference play.

Kansas lost three of four contests after beginning the non-conference schedule 5-0. They lost to the San Diego Aztecs as well at home to close out the slate.

Kansas needed overtime to get past the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the conference tournament quarterfinals and in the semifinals, they lost to the Iowa State Cyclones 94-83. The Jayhawks still earned a No. 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament despite how things ended up.

In the second round, they defeated the No. 15-seeded Eastern Kentucky Colonels, 80-69. The Colonels put up a fight in the first half, but Kansas made the adjustments in the second half, pulling away in the end.

In the third round, Kansas stumbled against No. 10-seeded Stanford Cardinal. Chasson Randle and Dwight Powell combined for 28 points for Stanford, as they pulled off the 60-57 upset.

Kansas was without Embiid for the final four games of the season. It was the first NCAA Tournament final in history that didn’t include a No. 1, 2 or 3 seed and only the third final without a No. 1 or 2 seed.