Monday's biggest development wasn't Gonzaga and Saint Mary's both winning to set up another great West Coast Conference Tournament title game — although both did win to do exactly that. No, Monday's biggest development was Kansas coach Bill Self announcing on "Hawk Talk" that Kevin McCullar and Hunter Dickinson will each miss the Big 12 Tournament while recovering from injury, leaving the Jayhawks extremely limited heading into a postseason event featuring 10 schools ranked in the top 45 of the NET.
That's the bad news.
But the good news for KU is that Self said a MRI conducted on Dickinson's shoulder showed that he "did not tear it" during Saturday's 76-46 loss at Houston. Self added that Dickinson "should be practicing full speed by the start of next week" and "should be fine" for the NCAA Tournament.
McCullar's knee injury is a little more complicated in the sense that it's been lingering for more than a month and already caused him to miss five games. But Self sounded similarly optimistic about where McCullar should be after resting alongside Dickinson through this week's Big 12 Tournament.
"Our goal for Kevin is very similar to [our goal for] Hunter in that [he'll do] non-contact stuff [this week] and then by Monday be practicing," Self said. "So that's what we're hopeful for."
KU's decision to withhold its top two players from the Big 12 Tournament -- a pair of seniors who are combining to average 36.3 points, 16.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game -- seems strategic more than anything else. Simply put, if the options are to continue to let McCullar limp through his final season in college or to temporarily shut him down in an attempt to get him back close to 100% for the start of the NCAA Tournament, the latter option is clearly better and smarter. Now, even if the Jayhawks open the NCAA Tournament as early as possible on March 21, McCullar and Dickinson will have had 12 days between games to rest and recover.
"We're the least healthy we've been all year [right now]," Self said. "We have the least number of players available to us [this week than] we've had all year, but we should be the most healthy we've been in a long time when the NCAA Tournament starts."
Kansas is No. 15 in Tuesday morning's updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Purdue remains No. 1 for the 21st consecutive day. No. 1 Purdue, No. 2 UConn and No. 3 Houston are now locks to be the top three seeds (in some order) in the NCAA Tournament. The only question is which school will join them and be the fourth No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday — North Carolina, Tennessee or somebody else?
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Zach Edey finished with 25 points and 14 rebounds in Sunday's 78-70 win over Wisconsin. The Boilermakers are the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. | -- | 34-5 |
| 2 |  | Alex Karaban finished with 16 points and two steals in Saturday's 74-60 win at Providence. The Huskies are the No. 1 seed in the Big East Tournament. | -- | 37-3 |
| 3 |  | Jamal Shead finished with 13 points and eight assists in Saturday's 76-46 win over Kansas. The Cougars are the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. | -- | 32-5 |
| 4 |  | Cormac Ryan finished with 31 points and two rebounds in Saturday's 84-79 win at Duke. The Tar Heels are the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament. | -- | 29-8 |
| 5 |  | Santiago Vescovi was 0 of 5 from the field in Saturday's 85-81 loss to Kentucky. The Vols are the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 27-9 |
| 6 |  | Milan Momcilovic was 0 of 2 from the field in Saturday's 65-58 loss at Kansas State. The Cyclones are the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. | -- | 29-8 |
| 7 |  | Baylor Scheierman finished with 18 points and six assists in Saturday's 69-67 win at Villanova. The Bluejays are the No. 2 seed in the Big East Tournament. | -- | 25-10 |
| 8 |  | Caleb Love was 1 of 10 from the field in Saturday's 78-65 loss at USC. The Wildcats are the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. | -- | 27-9 |
| 9 |  | RayJ Dennis had four turnovers in Saturday's 78-68 loss at Texas Tech. The Bears are the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. | -- | 24-11 |
| 10 |  | Oso Ighodaro finished with 24 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 86-80 win at Xavier. The Golden Eagles are the No. 3 seed in the Big East Tournament. | -- | 27-10 |
| 11 |  | Great Osobor finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 87-85 win over New Mexico. The Aggies are the No. 1 seed in the Mountain West Tournament. | -- | 28-7 |
| 12 |  | Jeremy Roach was 3 of 12 from the field in Saturday's 84-79 loss to Duke. The Blue Devils are the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament. | -- | 27-9 |
| 13 |  | Denver Jones finished with 21 points and three assists in Saturday's 92-78 win over Georgia. The Tigers are the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 27-8 |
| 14 |  | Spencer Johnson finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 85-71 win over Oklahoma State. The Cougars are the No. 5 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. | -- | 23-11 |
| 15 |  | Johnny Furphy was 2 of 9 from the field in Saturday's 76-46 loss at Houston. The Jayhawks are the No. 6 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. | -- | 23-11 |
| 16 |  | Terrence Shannon Jr. finished with 25 points and three rebounds in Sunday's 73-61 win at Iowa. The Illini are the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. | -- | 29-9 |
| 17 |  | Reed Sheppard finished with 27 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 85-81 win at Tennessee. The Wildcats are the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 23-10 |
| 18 |  | DaRon Holmes II finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 91-86 win over VCU. The Flyers are the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament. | -- | 25-8 |
| 19 |  | Jarod Lucas finished with 26 points and three rebounds in Saturday's 75-65 win over UNLV. The Wolf Pack are the No. 2 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. | -- | 26-8 |
| 20 |  | B.J. Mack finished with 25 points and two blocks in Saturday's 93-89 win at Mississippi State. The Gamecocks are the No. 5 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 26-8 |
| 21 |  | Mark Sears finished with 22 points and six assists in Saturday's 92-88 in over Arkansas. The Crimson Tide are the No. 3 seed in the SEC Tournament. | -- | 25-12 |
| 22 |  | Ryan Nembhard finished with 16 points and six rebounds in Monday's 89-77 win over San Francisco. The Zags' next game is Tuesday against Saint Mary's in the WCC Tournament championship. | -- | 27-8 |
| 23 |  | Jaylen Wells was 3 of 13 from the field in Thursday's 74-68 loss to Washington. The Cougars are the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. | -- | 25-10 |
| 24 |  | Roddie Anderson III finished with 16 points and six rebounds in Friday's 79-77 win at San Diego State. The Broncos are the No. 3 seed in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. | -- | 22-11 |
| 25 |  | Pop Isaacs finished with 20 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 78-68 win over Baylor. The Red Raiders are the No. 4 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. | -- | 23-11 |
| 26 |  | Vladislav Goldin finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 92-84 win over Memphis. The Owls are the No. 2 seed in the AAC Tournament. | -- | 25-9 |
