Wichita State will be without two players for the AAC men’s basketball tournament
The Wichita State men’s basketball team will be without two scholarship players for the American Athletic Conference tournament held this week at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
In his news conference after being voted the unanimous AAC Coach of the Year, WSU coach Isaac Brown broke the news that two players were in COVID-19 protocol and away from the team on Wednesday. Because of WSU’s policy concerning COVID-19 issues, Brown did not specify which two players would miss the tournament.
The Shockers (15-4) will play their first game in the tournament in Friday’s 11 a.m. quarterfinal between the winner of South Florida and Temple, which will be broadcast on ESPN2.
“Right now we have two guys that won’t be going on the trip with us,” Brown said Wednesday afternoon. “That could change, but other than that, everybody will be getting on the bus today and we’re heading to Fort Worth.”
Sources confirmed that the two players were not on the team bus that left for Fort Worth on Wednesday afternoon.
It is unclear if one or both players tested positive or are being held out because of contact tracing. What is clear is that it is the first problems WSU has had with the coronavirus since the start of the season when a handful of players tested positive and the Shockers had to pull out of the season-opening tournament in South Dakota.
WSU could also be down another two players becaues of injury, as junior center Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler (ankle) and redshirt freshman center Josaphat Bilau (knee) are also considered day-to-day and will be game-time decisions for Friday’s game.
That means WSU potentially could be down to nine scholarship players for the tournament run, similar to how the Shockers started the season when they were undermanned for the first three games of the season against Oral Roberts, Missouri and Oklahoma State.
WSU will also be playing to improve its case to be included in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The Shockers won the American regular season title outright, picked up a marquee win over Houston, have no bad losses on the season and are generally considered on the right side of the bubble entering this weekend. But a bad loss in Fort Worth could undo a lot of that good work and make the Shockers sweat out Selection Sunday.
And for those wondering if the COVID-19 issues would potentially keep WSU out of the NCAA Tournament, NCAA vice president Dan Gavitt confirmed to national media on a conference call on Wednesday that teams will be allowed to play in March Madness as long as they have five players that are healthy and cleared.
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 3:10 PM.
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