Dan Fitzgerald reacts to Kansas' draw in Fayetteville Regional

Kansas was selected to the 2025 NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014, where it’ll be paired up with No. 1 seed Arkansas, No. 2 seed Creighton and No. 4 seed North Dakota State in the Fayetteville Regional.

The Jayhawks had one of their best seasons in recent history, as they head into the NCAA Tournament with a 43-15 (20-10) record. They were the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament, where they fell to No. 3 seed TCU in the Semifinals. Head coach Dan Fitzgerald, who has been the head coach in Lawrence since 2023, spoke to the media about his team’s draw on Monday.

“You look through this tournament and this is true of the NCAA Tournament, there’s never a Regional where it’s like ‘that’s an easy one for so-so.’ They’re all tough,” Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald on Creighton:

Before being hired at Kansas, Fitzgerald was the assistant head coach at Dallas Baptist from 2017-2021 before joining LSU as an assistant in 2022. Now, he’ll be making his first trip to the Big Dance as a head coach. He spoke highly of coach Ed Servais and Creighton, who Kansas will be playing in the Regional opener on Friday.

“Creighton is a really good team and playing really good baseball,” Fitzgerald said. They’ve got a fantastic coaching staff. Coach [Ed] Servais, what a cool accomplishment for him to go in his final year because he’s a Hall of Fame coach. He might be the greatest defensive teacher in college baseball history, and certainly top-five. He is such an incredible tactician on the defensive side, so they present issues there because they give you nothing. Billy Mohl, their pitching coach, is a guy that I’ve known forever. He was at Illinois State and we’ve coached against each other. He does a great job. Coach [Mark] Kingston coming over from South Carolina. They’ve got a great staff and they’re very talented.”

Fitzgerald on Arkansas:

The No. 1 seed in the Fayetteville Regional is the Arkansas Razorbacks, who will be making its eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

“Arkansas is obviously a really good team and as [the NCAA Selection Show] said up there, maybe the most complete team in the tournament,” Fitzgerald said. I think you can say that about five or six teams that have performed at a really high level.”

Fitzgerald on North Dakota State:

Finally, Fitzgerald touched on No. 4 seed North Dakota State. The Bison headed into the Summit League Tournament with a 17-31 record, but shocked the conference by winning the tournament for the third time in program history.

“[North Dakota State] has got some really good pitching,” Fitzgerald said. “They’ve got a guy that can make argument for being one of the top pitchers in this Regional if you think about the four teams and that’s saying something. If you look at the schedule North Dakota State plays, they’re not going to be ‘wowed’ by the lights or the big crowd. They play a tough schedule and they’re really well coached. Their head guy [Tyler Oakes] is a guy I’ve known forever and he’s the son of Todd Oakes, who was the long time pitching coach at the University of Minnesota who passed away a few years ago. Phenomenal young coach who’s done an amazing job since taking over at North Dakota State.”

Kansas opens play in the Fayetteville Regional on Friday at 8:00 pm EST.

“It’s four really good teams, and that’s exactly what you want. You want to go to a Regional where you’ve got to compete at the highest level. That’s literally the highest form of sport, is going up against the best. So we’re thrilled and couldn’t be more excited to get to Fayetteville.”