Bill Self Provides Update on Hunter Dickinson, Kevin McCullar
Bill Self and the Kansas Jayhawks find themselves in something a precarious position entering the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
Since Self arrived in Lawrence in 2003, the Jayhawks have never missed an NCAA Tournament and have never been worse than third in the Big 12 standings. However, in 2024, Kansas finished tied for fifth in the conference standings and limps into the tournament with its worst conference record yet, at 10-8.
Much of that is due to Self’s team’s dealing with key injuries for the latter half of the season, with Kevin McCullar and Hunter Dickinson both missing the Big 12 Tournament last week.
Their absence no doubt played a part in the resulting 72-52 loss to Cincinnati. With that loss, combined with the 76-46 loss to Houston in their Big 12 finale, Kansas is quite literally limping into its date with No. 13 seed Samford on Thursday. It’s not a good draw for KU either, as Samford ranks among the nation’s top three-point teams.
There is a bit of good news for the Jayhawks though, as Coach Self gave a promising update on Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, Hunter Dickinson, on Sunday. The Michigan transfer suffered a dislocated shoulder against Houston.
“[Hunter Dickinson]’s is doing great,” Self told media. “He’s actually practiced the last two days, non-contact. We’ve done a lot of dry stuff so that way he could be out there. That way, he’ll go contact [on Monday.]”
Kevin McCullar’s situation appears to be more fluid, however, as Self is unsure of what he’ll see from the grad transfer going into this week.
“Kevin, I haven’t seen do anything,” Self said. “The entire game plan on him was hopefully, on Monday, he’ll be good to go. If he’s not good to go [Monday], then he won’t be, and we’ll hope on Tuesday.”
Missing one or both of the Dickinson/McCullar duo would be detrimental to KU’s chances of making a tournament run. Both players average around 18 points per game and combine for nearly 17 rebounds per contest.
They’ll need both of those guys healthy if there’s any chance at them making a run at the Final Four later this month.
