KU Jayhawks’ Bill Self pleased with NCAA seed, gives update on team’s COVID-19 issue
Bill Self’s Kansas men’s basketball team, the same one that lost three straight games and five of seven contests in January, has been awarded a No. 3 seed in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
“I actually probably am about as excited as I’ve been on a Sunday of the Selection Show,” Self, KU’s 18th-year coach, said Sunday after it was revealed the Jayhawks (20-8) would take on No. 14 seed Eastern Washington (16-7) at 12:15 p.m. Saturday in Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis. The game will be broadcast on TBS.
Winner would meet either Wichita State, Drake or USC in a second-round West Regional game on Monday at a time and location in Indiana to be announced. The No. 2 seed in the region is Iowa and the No. 1 seed Gonzaga.
“To be a 3-seed,“ said Self, who indicated he expected to be a No. 3 as long as KU’s recent COVID-19 issues were not taken into consideration, “if you just look at that it means you have one of the 12 best teams in the country in the committee’s estimation, which is nice and there’s no question about that. To think where we were six weeks ago thinking we just hope to get in to being a 3-seed, is a pretty strong statement as to how much our team got better and players improved in the last 1/3, 1/2 of the season.”
Self, in fact, said his Jayhawks, who enter the NCAAs with eight wins in their last nine games, “were proud of themselves to be honest. I think they feel good about themselves. Not good in a way we have accomplished anything yet, but in a way, ‘So far so good. Now we’ve put ourselves in a decent position. Now we need to take advantage of this opportunity.’’’
Of course, some of the enthusiasm surrounding KU’s position entering the postseason has been tempered by the COVID-19 related issues surrounding this team.
KU had to withdraw from the Big 12 Tournament prior to Friday’s semifinal game against Texas after KU reported there was a positive COVID-19 test within the men’s basketball team. KU revealed last Tuesday that David McCormack and Tristan Enaruna could not travel to Kansas City for the tourney because they had entered COVID-19 protocol. It was not revealed if either tested positive for COVID-19 or if the two players were in the protocol for contact tracing.
Self said Sunday the Jayhawks would head to Indianapolis on Monday minus three players. A source told The Star on Monday that Jalen Wilson didn’t make the trip to Indianapolis along with McCormack and Enaruna. Self did not identify the player who tested positive.
“Obviously the most recent positive test, I mean anybody can do the math. We think that (unnamed player’s return to team) will not be until we complete the first two games if we are fortunate enough to advance,” Self said.
All members of the team’s Tier One group have to test negative seven straight days before entering the bubble in Indy. Any player who has tested positive must have a negative test result and no symptoms 11 days after the first positive test or symptoms appeared.
“The other ones we hope to get there this next week as long as nothing negative happens in the meantime,” Self added. “We are not going to count our chickens before hatched so to speak. It’s a daily deal you get nervous every time you test. We’ll have to wait and see how the tests go.”
Of the COVID situation, Self noted: “We think we are knock on wood in as good a shape as we can be. We obviously had a situation the day following our Oklahoma game. I guess that was Friday morning (when the positive in the program occurred), but everybody else has tested negative daily, sometimes more than once a day. We are going to Indianapolis tomorrow with a healthy group, just a smaller group. We are minus three bodies now.”
He reiterated “we expect to (have McCormack and Enaruna available Saturday) unless something happens. One thing I’ve found out through this probably as much as anybody is expect the unexpected. We’ll see. I am not privy to comment on specifics. I’ll stick to what I said all along, we anticipate them to join us this week.”
As far as how quickly they’ll be able to play effectively after missing several practices … “a lot will depend on how they feel. A lot will depend on what our medical staff says they can possibly do. It’s just an unknown right now.,” Self said.
He did say Tyon Grant-Foster figures to play an integral role to start the postseason with Wilson out. Marcus Garrett and Ochai Agbaji are also available; they spoke to media members in a Zoom call Sunday after the Selection Sunday show.
“No question I have not given Tyon Grant-Foster many opportunities to play,” Self said. “As long as we stay healthy from this point forward, he’s going to get every opportunity to be an impact player for us in this tournament.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2021 at 8:20 PM with the headline "KU Jayhawks’ Bill Self pleased with NCAA seed, gives update on team’s COVID-19 issue."
