Kansas Basketball

NCAA Selection Committee May Punish KU for Embiid Injury

The NCAA tournament selection committee may punish Kansas in terms of seeding come Selection Sunday.

Ron Wellman, committee chair of the NCAA selection committee, told Andy Katz on ESPNU’s Katz Korner on Tuesday that the selection committee will keep in contact with the Jayhawks throughout the week regarding Embiid’s status. He told Katz that the committee will discuss whether they’ll reward Kansas for their regular season or project Kansas because of Embiid’s injury.

As reported last night, Joel Embiid visited Los Angeles on Monday to confirm the prognosis of a stress fracture and will miss the Big 12 tournament this week and at minimum, the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.

More from ESPN:

“I can assure you it will be a detailed discussion as to when he is going to be available, and we will be monitoring and communicating with Kansas throughout the week as to what his availability will be going forward,” Wellman told Katz.

There is precedence for this, with Arizona dealing with a back injury to Loren Woods in 2000 and Connecticut in 2004 with Emeka Okafor. The Wildcats’ seed wasn’t affected, though Woods didn’t play in the NCAA tournament that year. UConn’s seed was dropped a line, but Okafor played and the Huskies won the title.

Wellman discussed how the committee will handle judging Kansas, which played three games without Embiid, going 2-1 with wins over TCU and Texas Tech at home and losing at West Virginia. The latter two games were last week, and the TCU game was earlier in the conference season.

“Do you reward teams for what they have done in the season, or do you project what they are going to do?” Wellman said. “If you are projecting what they are going to do, then that injury of course takes on more importance. If you are rewarding them for what they have done in the season, then you just base your decisions, whether it be selection or seeding, upon what they have shown thus far in the season and their accomplishments this season. I think that is a discussion that we will have in the committee room.”

Wellman is one of 10 members of the committee, and they all have an equal vote on each team. Where does Wellman stand on whether to reward Kansas or penalize the Jayhawks for not having Embiid?

“I am probably one personally that sides on the award side,” Wellman said. “Is it good or is it appropriate to punish a team and the other 11 players on that team because someone is injured? I don’t think you completely eliminate the facts that you have in front of you regarding an injury, but I tend to side personally, and I’m not speaking for the committee on this, but personally I would probably side on the award side of it.”

15 thoughts on “NCAA Selection Committee May Punish KU for Embiid Injury

  • Lizzyanco

    Give KU their due, award them what they already earned a top seed

    • OhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhYeahhhhhhh

      LAWL. You have no idea. I could see a 2 seed, TOPS. I’m sorry to tell you but with or without Embiid, they’re still not a top seed at all. Florida, WSU, Nova, Arizona, Louisville and Virginia deserve a 1 seed before KU. Wouldn’t mind a 3 seed actually.

  • If the committee is going to start prognosticating what teams will do in the tournament based on players missing/playing, then they all should be fired and we’ll just do a blind draw. That’s a ridiculous statement by Wellman. Makes him look stupid.

    • OhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhYeahhhhhhh

      They’ve been doing that for years. There’s been a few times KU got a higher seed than what the rankings would lead you to believe simply because of their players. Works both ways. Besides, why does it matter if they get a 1 or 3 seed? They still have to win games….

  • Richard L. Mitchell

    How many people fill out brackets? How many get it right? If the Committee judges by what they think might happen, are they not just filling out a bracket.

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