Devin Neal Defends Kevin McCullar Over Knee Injury
The 2024 NCAA Tournament is now underway, and the Kansas Jayhawks are set for a late tip against a red-hot Samford team that can pour it in from three-point range.
After playing without its top two players in the Big 12 Tournament, Kansas comes into the tournament with its worst seed of the Bill Self era as a No. 4 seed. Still, KU fans expect success in the Big Dance, and that only adds to the pressure that this squad is feeling heading into Thursday’s matchup.
Earlier in the week, head coach Bill Self announced that Jayhawks’ leading scorer, Kevin McCullar, would miss the NCAA Tournament with a lingering knee injury. Shortly after the news came out, rumors began circulating that McCullar was just unwilling to play in the tournament.
Just hours before the game, Coach Self addressed the rumors on social media, defending the All-Big 12 First-Team selection.
“I am not on social media much but since announcing Kevin would not play in the tournament, I’ve been told Kevin and this situation have been portrayed inaccurately,” Self wrote on Twitter. “What I said in a 45 second video clip is true. His knee hasn’t improved in the last two weeks. It hurts too much to continue playing. He hasn’t practiced in 6 weeks. We made the decision to shut him down. That’s all 100 percent accurate, but what I didn’t say has caused a false narrative to question Kevin inappropriately. He worked tirelessly in rehab to try to play and everyone within the program knows it. We’ve known the only way the bone bruise would heal is time off. Kevin elected not to do that and try to play.”
Self wasn’t the only notable person in Kansas’ athletic department to support McCullar’s defense; All-Big 12 running back Devin Neal also shared his thoughts.
“I don’t understand how we hate on athletes for injuries,” Neal writes. “We give everything to our teams and programs and sometimes it just doesn’t go our way. Just crazy to me I guess.”
It appears the people in Lawrence don’t have an issue with how McCullar is handling his injury situation, and seem to be urging fans to do the same?
It seems wild to suggest that a senior would decline the chance to play in one final NCAA Tournament, but perhaps I’m the crazy one.
