The Kansas basketball team withdrew from the Big 12 Tournament on Friday after having a positive player test for COVID-19. The Jayhawks were scheduled to play Texas on Friday night in the league semifinals, and now because of the withdrawal, the Longhorns advance to face the Oklahoma State and Baylor winner in the Big 12 tournament championship game on Saturday. Matt Norlander of CBS Sports was the first to report the news that Kansas was forced out of the Big 12 tournament on Friday.
“Obviously, we are disappointed and our players are disappointed that they cannot continue to compete for the big 12 championship,” said coach Bill Self in a statement. “Although we are fortunate enough to prevent this over the course of the season, there are daily risks with this virus that all participants are trying to avoid. We followed the daily tests and additional protocols that were set up for us, unfortunately, we took a bad break at the wrong time. I look forward to preparing my team in a probably unique way for next week’s NCAA Tournament. “
It is not clear who is the player who tested positive, but a source told Norlander it was someone who played KU on Thursday night against Oklahoma. Only seven Jayhawks players were in action in Thursday night’s victory, partly because they had already dealt with COVID problems when they entered the week. The starting center David McCormack and reserve Tristan Enaruna were excluded from the Big 12 tournament before the team left for Kansas City, as both were placed on health and safety protocols.
Self said before the Big 12 tournament that he expects both to be available for the NCAA tournament, but this is a new wrinkle that could affect the availability of other KU players for next week’s NCAA tournament, given the contact tracking and measures quarantine that will be conducted. According to NCAA protocols, playing Big Dance requires seven consecutive days of negative test results among Level 1 personnel before arriving in Indianapolis, which means the test has already started.
The sudden withdrawal of KU from the tournament because of a positive COVID test marks a worrying issue for major conference teams in recent days across the country. On Thursday, Duke had to withdraw from the ACC Tournament – and thus ended his season – after a player who did not play the night before was positive. On Friday, Virginia had to do the same because a player who participated in the fifth team’s game was positive.