March 10: News Headlines Digest
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Also see our Daily Threads, March 10, and the News Digest for Yesterday, March 9, as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday, March 9
##Goodman: Joel Embiid out indefinitely##
Kansas Jayhawks freshman big man Joel Embiid is out for the Big 12 tournament and will likely miss the first weekend of the NCAA tournament.
The 7-foot Cameroon native went to Los Angeles for a second opinion on his ailing back on Monday. Jayhawks coach Bill Self told ESPN.com earlier in the day he was confident that Embiid would play in the NCAA tourney, and thought there was a chance he could play in the Big 12 tournament.
Dodd : KU’s Joel Embiid heads to California for evaluation of back injury
LAWRENCE — Kansas center Joel Embiid boarded a plane on Sunday and flew to Los Angeles, seeking a second opinion from a back specialist in the area.
Embiid, sidelined because of an undisclosed lower-back injury, was to meet with a doctor on Monday morning before heading back to Lawrence. If it sounds ominous, well, that’s the nature of back injuries.
###Goodman: Joel Embiid visits back specialist###
Despite Joel Embiid’s trip Monday to Los Angeles to see a back specialist, Kansas coach Bill Self is “100 percent confident” the freshman center will play in the postseason.
“This was the plan all along,” Self said by phone Monday, referring to the second opinion his player was getting. “We don’t anticipate anything new, but we owe it to Joel and his family to know exactly what we’re dealing with.”
###AP: Andrew Wiggins also earns Big 12 freshman of the year on AP ballot###
Kansas’ Andrew Wiggins made it a sweep of the Big 12 freshman of the year awards, as he earned the honor Monday following the release of the Associated Press’ all-conference teams.
###Biancardi: #AskCoachB: KU’s chances with Turner###
Myles Turner has taken official visits so far to Ohio State, Oklahoma State, Kansas and Duke. He has been saying for a while his last visit will be to Texas.
I believe Kansas, with all of its prior success with big men under Bill Self, is being seriously considered. It’s hard to imagine that Joel Embiid will stay in college with his progress and potential.
###Keegan: Column: Big 12 really is best league###
It happens every March in every power conference. As Selection Sunday draws closer, coaches take the podium and talk up their league as “the best in the country.”
Such words scratch the backs of fellow conference coaches, and it helps everybody in the league.
###KUSports.com: Joel Embiid ruled out for Big 12 Tournament###
The specialist confirmed the original stress fracture prognosis he received in Lawrence. His current treatments have Embiid in the middle of the healing process, which renders him unavailable for the Big 12 Championship and unlikely to play in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
###Please add stories here### ###### Also see our Daily Threads, March 10, and the News Digest for Yesterday, March 9, as well as Daily Threads for Yesterday, March 9
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How manyJayhawks make the Big XII All Tournament Team? I say two.
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Gary Parrish Top 25 and one has moved us up a spot.
No. 5: Kansas
Overall: 23-8
Conference: 14-4
Previous: 6
The Jayhawks are 1-1 without Joel Embiid, who missed the final two regular-season games with a bad back.
W 82-57, Texas Tech L 92-86, at West Virginia
And Dougie Gotlieb on Sun. had us still as a No. 1 along with Clark Kellogg. But Seth Davis, who has picked KU to win it all, dropped us from a 1 seed and put in Villanova.
So in reality, no one knows nor can predict what is going to happen this tourney.
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@RockChalkinTexas-Seth picks us every year. With no Embid we could just as easily be a 4.
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Wiggins is named big 12 freshman of year by AP today.
And all this talk of Joel’s back makes me nervous. I’m both concerned for this years NCAA tournament and next season. I would love to have Embiid back, but not at the expense of his health. I also hope this doesn’t scare him into leaving early. It’s a two sided coin.
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Long time sports columnist for Austin American-Statesman wrote today (Kirk Bohls):
##2. Love the overall job that Rick Barnes has done this season, but with the way Texas’ basketball team has fallen off with five consecutive road losses, I’d pick Kansas’ Bill Self as Big 12 Coach of the Year. Remember, Self had five new starters this season while Barnes had four returners who started 12 games or more.
##Hell Yes!
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http://kansas.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1618684
Not good news!
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Joel out for Big12 and first round of NCAA. Just tweeted.
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Get well, Joel! Godspeed and it’s not worth it to rush back into action.
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Great scoop, Lump!
It means this injury is pretty serious business.
I like the call by Self.
Forget the stupid conference tourney.
Forget the first round. If the team isn’t good enough to get through a first round without Joel, then enjoy the off season.
If he is feeling great in two weeks, then he tries to hold it together for four games.
Interestingly, it is reputedly an injury that would be healed in four weeks; this is only two more weeks of rest.
It will be interesting to see if any medical professional tries to explain that logic of only waiting two weeks.
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Holy crap, is Joel tough or what? He was playing with a freaking broken back!
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sky is falling on KUSports… ScaredMichael is scared… etc. etc.
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He was playing with a freaking broken back!
@dylans Good point. Joel is a stud. But it makes me ponder the quote from Coach Self that went something like “His back injury can’t get any worse”…
Stress fractures can get aggravated, I would think. Seems a bit like an Obi-Wan statement (what I said was true… from a certain point of view.)
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@bskeet=Haven’t googled it but if I remember Bill Walton was in the L for about 13 yrs & missed about 10 or 11 yrs with stress fractures in his feet.
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Man, I sure hope the team isn’t letting Joel’s injury get to them like the posters on KU Sports. Whoooooooaaa!!
Don’t they realize how much motivation there can be from this? The team can be positive and think “All we have to do is win two games in the tournament and we can get Joel back” (assuming there are no complications of course).
I am not sure that the posters understand how good this team can be when they are really motivated and are up for a game. If they had their way, they would have KU forfeit their spot in the tournament because “they’re not going to make it out of the 3rd round”.
Bunch of negative Neds over there.
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I really have a bad feeling about how this is unfolding. Not that I suspect anyone has the warm & fuzzies over the latest news on Joel’s back, but so much of this just doesn’t sit right with me. It’s the knee that should have been taken more seriously & rested. It’s the taking one measly game off for the back when lo & behold! lowly TCU was up next (meaning if it was Texas on the schedule and the Big 12 race was up for grabs, would he have sat?). It’s as @bskeet pointed out, the reassurances that he wasn’t going to make it any worse. The constant citing of medical experts. Going from missing the last 2 games of the regular season to missing the Big 12 tournament to most likely missing at least the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. It’s the family insisting on a second opinion and him flying halfway across the country to get it. It’s Self coming out early today saying he was 100% confident he’d be ready for the NCAA tournament. Why make that statement before hearing the results of this second opinion, unless you are trying to frame the decision to go your way?
A big part of me wonders if the Embiid “camp” (family, any advisors like perhaps Luc Mbah a Moute) has made the decision he has played his last game as a Jayhawk. Which if the injury is that severe, I have absolutely no problem with him missing the rest of the season. But it seems like…a month, 6 weeks ago we all were getting kind of a buzz that we might be able to keep him another year. Does anyone really think that now?
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I am not sure that the posters understand how good this team can be when they are really motivated and are up for a game.
@DinarHawk Hear! Hear!
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@DinarHawk " I am not sure that the posters understand how good this team can be when they are really motivated and are up for a game. "
My question is - WHY is motivation such an issue for this team? Shouldn’t at least one to three of these players have been motivated every game, knowing this is their one and only year in college? They won the Big 12 Conference Title in a rather un-motivated fashion and we’ve read that (and thought it) all season long. This group has a hard time getting motivated.
Is that the Coach’s fault? I suppose it could be, but man, if I’m good enough to play for the University of Kansas and I’m playing in front of 16,300 fans at home and packed houses on the road (usually the other team’s only sellout of the year) and I’m on Television and radio EVERY game - I’m gonna be motivated.
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@nuleafjhawk That is what I have been trying to figure out the past 6 years. Why are they not motivated or do not bring the effort every game?
The good thing is Coach Self said that he could most likely play the second weekend of the tournament. The rest of the team would just have to play their hearts out for just two games to get him back.
Yes, I know, they looked pretty bad against West Virginia.
But what if they decide to come together because of this and play to their talent level so that Joel can come back?
Only time will tell.
