The Kansas City Star reported Embiid would be examined Monday and then return to campus. The Jayhawks are scheduled to open play Thursday in the Big 12 Tournament as the event’s No. 1 seed.
MORE: Conference tourney schedules | Kansas not finishing strong
“If we have to hold him out for him to (be) 100 percent for the NCAA,” Self told the Star. “We’ll do that.”
Self allowed to the Star that the injury is “more significant” than the lower back strain originally presented as a diagnosis but told the paper Embiid’s trip to the specialist ought not to be viewed as a reason to panic. Self still contends Embiid, who is averaging 11.2 points and 8.1 rebounds, should be ready for KU when it opens in the NCAA Tournament roughly 10 days from now.
“It’s the same gameplan we said we would follow,” Self said, adding that, “It’s nothing where he won’t be feeling great in four weeks with some rest,” Self said. “But we don’t have four weeks.”
Embiid is a 7-0 center originally from Cameroon who might be the most promising talent in the college game. When healthy, he has been a dominant shot-blocker and an effective low-post scorer.
Embiid first was injured in February and sat out a game against Kansas State. When he re-injured himself last Saturday in a road loss to Oklahoma State, Self announced he would exclude Embiid from the final two regular-season games. The Jayhawks lost Saturday without him at West Virginia.
“The whole deal is it’s not an injury that he could hurt worse,” Self said. “I don’t think we would put him back out there if it was. We’re going to evaluate him and give him the best chance to finish strong.”
