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In a phone interview on Friday afternoon, just hours after telling his team that Kansas had withdrawn from the Big 12 tournament due to a positive COVID-19 test in the program, the KU coach Bill Self said the whole morning was eerily like the same news. in 2020.
“Last year was around 11 am,” Self began. “This year it was around 11 o’clock. Same hotel. But it was not the same room. It was the same background with the players, “Hey everyone, hold on, I want to talk to everyone.” Lots of similarities. ”
The only major difference Self could feel, however, was that the last delivery of the news to the 2020 squad was overwhelming while Friday’s unexpected reunion was more of a temporary setback.
“Last year was a knockout,” he said. “But this year it’s more of a blow that knocks you out, but you don’t know if you can get up.” But we will. The final game was not affected this year. ”
Self declined to reveal the identity of the KU player who tested positive on Friday – joining already sidelined Jayhawks David McCormack and Tristan Enaruna to enter COVID-19 protocol – but said the series of consecutive KU tests required by the NCAA to leave for Indianapolis started long before Friday.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “We’ve been tested every day for a while now.”
The NCAA has said that teams selected to compete in the NCAA tournament will have to produce negative test results for seven consecutive days before even leaving for Indianapolis. Teams will all be retested upon arrival and tested throughout the NCAA tournament.
As long as those tests administered to the Jayhawks continue to produce negative results with the rest of the squad throughout the weekend, KU plans to leave for Indianapolis on Monday.
Self said the Jayhawks took off on Friday and will be training in Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday and Sunday while preparing for the NCAA tournament in what he has dubbed “in a very unique way.”
Depending on their time of departure, Self added that KU may also be training in Kansas City on Monday morning.
“The NCAA has recommended training before you go because I think we won’t be available to train the day we get there,” he said.
The Kansas coach’s concern over KU’s training schedule and flight route has provided an indication of his optimism about KU’s chances of playing in next week’s NCAA tournament.
“The end game wasn’t much affected,” Self said. “But it forces us to prepare in a very unique way that very few teams have probably ever had to do to get to an NCAA tournament.”
When asked what it looked like, in terms of film work, field preparation, etc., Self simply replied, “I don’t know yet.
“You are preparing without your full roster, knowing that you are going to get your full roster at some point,” he added. “It will just be a little different.”
NCAA officials announced last week that teams would only need five eligible players to be allowed to participate in this year’s tournament.
While this would obviously disadvantage any team from a depth standpoint, the idea behind the numbers was to make it as easy as possible for the teams selected for the Big Dance to participate on Selection Sunday.
Self said it was not yet certain whether the player who tested positive on Friday would be able to play next weekend.
“It would be close,” Self said. “I am not sure.”
The NCAA tournament is scheduled to begin with the first four on Thursday and the first round games begin Friday and Saturday.
Self also noted that McCormack and Enaruna, who missed Thursday’s victory over Oklahoma by isolating themselves in Lawrence under COVID-19 protocols, would not travel to Indianapolis with the team on Monday.
“We feel like we have some amazing safeguards in place,” Self said. “So we’re still confident that we’ll go to Indy on Monday and hopefully we’ll still be ranked in a really good niche. I think we should still be ranked in a really good niche, and we’ll prepare ourselves to play the Friday or Saturday. ”
That confidence extends to the team’s feeling about their chances once they get to Indianapolis.
“I think the team are very disappointed,” Self said, saying he didn’t have a chance to play on Friday night. “I think it’s obvious we’re coming to our own. We might not have won, but someone should play well to get us right away.”
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