Kansas Traveling To Indy Without McCormack, 2 others
The Kansas Jayhawks will be headed to Indianapolis without forward David McCormack and two other players, according to Kansas head coach Bill Self.
The Jayhawks, who are a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, had to leave the Big 12 Tournament on Friday due to a positive COVID-19 test for a player that played in Thursday’s quarterfinal win over Oklahoma. This was after McCormack and another player, Tristan Enaruna, had to stay in Lawrence for the Big 12 Tournament due to COVID-19 protocols.
Self said that both McCormack and Enaruna could join the team in Indianapolis later this week.
Earlier Sunday, ESPN.com that Kansas had not notified the NCAA that it could not meet the stated COVID-19 protocols, a key benchmark for selection eligibility. That meant Kansas was not withdrawing itself from consideration for the tournament.
READ MORE: 2021 NCAA Tournament: Schedule, Printable Bracket, Dates and Times
READ MORE: Seven Big 12 Basketball Teams Learn NCAA Tournament Seeds
The same held true for Duke and Virginia, who also exited their conference tournament. Duke didn’t make the NCAA Tournament field, but Virginia did. The Cavaliers are not expected to travel to Indianapolis until Friday, which is a day before their scheduled first-round game.
Kansas will face No. 14 seed Eastern Washington in the first round.
The tournament field doesn’t lock in until 5 p.m. central on Tuesday. That’s when any team selected for the field has to notify the NCAA if it can’t meet the NCAA’s COVID testing protocols. For that reason, the NCAA selected four teams to be replacement teams for the tournament field, should any teams drop out for any COVID-19 related reasons. So, even though teams like Kansas are in the field at the moment, they could exit due to COVID-19 protocols before then.
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