The Kansas men’s basketball team received a major blow to its national championship aspirations on Tuesday, as head coach Bill Self told reporters star guard Kevin McCullar Jr. has been ruled out of the NCAA tournament due to a knee injury.
McCullar, a senior, leads the team with 18.3 points per game while also averaging 6.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals.
Self added that Hunter Dickinson “looks great” after he missed the team’s loss to Cincinnati in the second round of the Big 12 tournament with a dislocated shoulder, but that McCullar was simply unable to play through his knee pain.
The Jayhawks were already on upset watch after finishing the season with four losses in five games while going just 7-8 down the stretch after a 15-2 start. Those losses included a 30-point blowout embarrassment against Houston and the loss to Cincy, with both McCullar and Dickinson out.
Without McCullar, they’ll likely be a trendy pick among the higher seeds to be upset in the first weekend. And if Dickinson isn’t close to 100 percent, the odds only get worse.