NCAA's Dan Gavitt explains how injuries could impact Kansas, Marquette seeding for March Madness

With conference tournaments wrapping up, attention is starting to turn toward Selection Sunday. That’s when the NCAA selection committee will announce the full field of 68 teams for March Madness, and there are plenty of questions about how the bracket will shake out.

Injuries are a big part of the conversation throughout the year, and two teams – Kansas and Marquette – find themselves at the forefront. The Jayhawks lost to Cincinnati 72-52 in the first round of the Big 12 tournament as they went without Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar due to injuries. As for the Golden Eagles, an injury to Tyler Kolek didn’t stop them from reaching the Big East Tournament championship on Saturday against UConn.

According to NCAA vice president Dan Gavitt, injuries are part of the selection committee’s consideration as it works to put the bracket together. He also sounded optimistic that both Kansas and Marquette would be healthy when the tournament begins next week.

“Well, the committee does monitor player availability all season long, as you know, especially during this conference championship week,” Gavitt told Jay Wright. “Stay in regular communication with the teams and the conferences to get updates. Should a player definitely not be available, that could have an impact on a team’s seeding.

“I think in the cases you mentioned, fortunately, the up-to-date communication we have from both Kansas and Marquette is that all three of those players will be available without restriction for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.”

Why Purdue fans might not have to worry much after loss to Wisconsin

The top seeds are starting to become clearer as Saturday’s semifinal and championship games continue. As of Saturday afternoon, On3’s James Fletcher III projected UConn, Purdue, Houston and North Carolina to be the respective top four seeds in the field even though the Boilermakers fell to Wisconsin earlier in the day.

Gavitt said while it might be a little soon to say for sure, he doesn’t think Purdue fans need to be worried about falling off the 1-seed line. That said, there could be more movement as a result of lower-seeded teams advancing in their respective tournaments.

“Too early to say,” Gavitt said. “I don’t think so. The one thing about teams that lose in their conference championships is that completes their full body of work. While they may not move down the seed line or even in the seed list as a result of losing a conference tournament game, the teams they are compared to who continue to play and, in some cases, go on to win their conference tournament title do have a chance to improve their resume and could possibly move up ahead of another team that has lost earlier in their conference tournament.

“I think it’s less a case of a team falling than maybe more a case of a team they’re being compared with below them moving up as a result of positive results and ultimately, a conference championship to match their regular season title.”