Why Kansas could be a quick one-and-done | College Basketball Enquirer

Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated explain why the Jayhawks are on upset alert in their first round match against Samford. Hear the full conversation on the “College Basketball Enquirer” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

DAN WETZEL: All right, Pat, what's the latest in March here? I know Kansas is dealing with injuries, which is unfortunate. What's happening?

PAT FORDE: Yeah. So yeah, Kansas who started the season preseason number one did not live up to it. Has not had a very good season, certainly by Kansas standards. They got a number four seed. But they really hit the skids at the end of the year they had injuries to both Kevin McCullar, outstanding two way player. He can score and he's a really good defender, and Hunter Dickinson, 7 foot 2 center, transfer from Michigan.

They held them both out of the Big 12 tournament and the thinking was, well, they're just taking precautions there because Kansas is a six seed, which they never are. So they're basically punting that to get ready for the big dance. Well comes out today, Bill Self says that McCullar will not play in the NCAA tournament. He's shut down. And that is a major loss for them.

They don't have a bunch of great scorers. It does cost them their best wing/perimeter defender. He's a good rebounder. So that's a big hit for Kansas. And did they conveniently time this announcement till after the bracket came out when it could have hurt their seeding? But it definitely hurts their competitiveness on the floor. And look out, they play Samford, Bucky McMillan, the former high school coach and poker player who presses the hell out of teams. I say that's upset alert for Kansas.

DAN WETZEL: Yeah, that's going to be big. That's big news and unfortunate for KU. Tough when you get injuries this time of year.