The No. 4 seed Kansas Jayhawks will have a tough road ahead of them in the men’s NCAA tournament after head coach Bill Self announced upon arriving to Salt Lake City that leading scorer Kevin McCullar Jr. will miss the entire tournament. McCullar had been battling a bone bruise in his knee since January and had been in and out the lineup for months.
But shortly after that announcement, McCullar faced criticism for missing the tourney given Self’s own implication that doctors had cleared the Kansas senior to play. Here’s the clip from Tuesday:
Here's a clip of Bill Self's announcement just now that Kevin McCullar will miss the NCAA Tournament. pic.twitter.com/Q9qkfgXQCt
— Henry Greenstein (@HenryGreenstein) March 19, 2024
Self said at the time that though McCullar hadn’t injured his knee worse, the pain had not subsided to the point where he can play. So, they decided to shut him down for the entire tournament regardless of any potential tourney run for the Jayhawks. The reaction to those comments and similar remarks from players drew a negative response from Kansas and college basketball fans.
A few hours before Kansas’ game against Samford, Self took to Twitter and spoke out on the situation. He wanted to make it clear that McCullar did not quit on the team and that it was a decision Kansas and the team doctors made.
Self added that McCullar would act as an assistant coach during the tournament. Kansas is expected to have star center Hunter Dickinson available for the game after he suffered a dislocated shoulder against Houston.