Kansas, the No. 7 seed in the West Region, will begin its NCAA Tournament run against Arkansas, the No. 10 seed, on Thursday, March 20, at Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island.

Not long after arriving at the team hotel on Tuesday night, Bill Self addressed the media ahead of Thursday's showdown against the Razorbacks.

“Good,” said Self when asked how the mood has been at practice. “Yeah, I’ve said this other weeks, too, but we had a really good day today. We were off yesterday, but we met and did scout and did all that stuff, and so we've had three good sessions of practice since we came home from Kansas City and had an off day that we got some stuff done, so hopefully, we'll be prepared.”

Before the season started, many expected Kansas, which opened up the regular season atop the college basketball polls, to ultimately end up playing in Wichita, Kan., the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

However, Kansas ended the season with an overall record of 21-12 (11-9 in the Big 12) and was unranked to end the season. Self, on Tuesday night, said he’s fine with KU’s opening round location.

“Yeah, I think this is fine,” said Self. “Selfishly, I'd rather play in Wichita or Kansas City or whatnot, but since we're not, we're definitely not going to spin it that that's a big deal. But truthfully, sometimes being closer to home brings more distractions too.

“You got more ticket issues, you got different things, and you certainly have the home crowd, which is good, but being the favorite with the home crowd a lot of times provides a little bit more pressure, too,” he added.

Kansas, unlike most years, is somewhat familiar with its opening-round opponent. On October 25, Self’s squad traveled to Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark., for an exhibition game against the Razorbacks.

Playing without Hunter Dickinson, Rylan Griffen, and Shakeel Moore, Kansas fell to Arkansas, 85-69. Self, on Tuesday night, talked about what standouts about the Razorbacks.

“I'll tell you what, they're playing so fast and it's pretty much the same team,” said Self. “Obviously Boogie (Fland) hasn’t been playing, I guess is going to, which will be a bonus for them, but to me (Billy) Richmond is just, athletically, he just provides a different gear and then (Jonas) Aidoo didn't play against us and so he's obviously a low post presence.

“And then I'm going brain dead,” he added. “The guy from Missouri? Oh, (Trevon) Brazile. Oh God almighty. Trust me, I'll know that. Trevor has, he's been really good and he shot the heck out of it of late, but he's just so active and so big and certainly gives smaller wings a big problem.”

A big question heading into the NCAA Tournament is centered around the availability of Shakeel Moore. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound guard from Greensboro, N.C., hasn’t taken the court since Kansas lost at BYU back on February 18.

Self, while addressing the media, provided the very latest update on Moore.

“He practiced a little bit on Friday and Saturday, and today, he practiced less,” said Self. “I'd like to see him get out there. Hopefully, he can go some tomorrow, and he'll be available to us at least. We may could have put him in against Arizona and the game doesn't go well, you may have lost him for the season just by putting him in there.

“So I told him I'd rather him play this weekend, but we don't know how it's going to be,” he added. “It's day-to-day.”