Nick KrugA direct connection to Florida basketball standout Keyontae Johnson has caused some within the Kansas basketball program to view Johnson’s recent collapse on the court as a reason to think longer and harder about playing college basketball in a pandemic.
KU forward David McCormack played prep basketball at Oak Hill Academy with Johnson during the 2017-18 season, and both juniors list Norfolk, Va., as their hometowns.
Kansas coach Bill Self said Thursday that McCormack had been in contact with Johnson’s family about his condition and KU senior Mitch Lightfoot said Tuesday that Johnson was one of McCormack’s “better friends.”
Self said the reports he has received from McCormack have “put a different perspective” on the situation and taken him beyond the obvious reaction of wishing for the best for Johnson and his family.
“I don’t know if we know enough (about it),” Self said, noting that McCormack told him that Johnson’s family said there were “still a lot of unknowns.” “If it’s attributed to a prior case that he had with COVID, that’s got to be analyzed. To me, I don’t know if that puts the brakes on everything, but that certainly (would mean) we’ve got to start pumping the brakes.”
Nick KrugReports have indicated that Johnson, the SEC’s preseason player of the year, was one of several Gators to test positive for COVID-19 during the summer.
A report from the Associated Press on Tuesday morning noted that Johnson was “following simple commands” Monday after being transferred from Tallahassee Memorial to UF Health in Gainesville, Fla. Officials told the AP that Johnson would undergo further tests and was in critical but stable condition two days after he collapsed on the court during a game at Florida State.
“It’s a scary situation,” Lightfoot said Tuesday. “But, I mean, I’m not a doctor so I don’t know the extent of everything. At this point in time we’re just praying for him and hoping he can get back out there and recover.”
Lightfoot said he and some other KU teammates had done what they could to comfort McCormack and let him know they were there for him.
Asked if the incident had him concerned about playing, Lightfoot said he did not know enough about the situation to have an opinion.
“I think everybody here (at KU) is doing everything they possibly can do to keep us safe,” he said. “And we’re doing everything we can to keep each other safe. So if we continue to be committed to each other’s safety then I think we’ll be OK.”
Self said he would continue to keep a close eye on the reports from McCormack and Florida about Johnson in the days ahead.
“There are things out there way more important than trying to get games in to make sure your players can compete (and) your school can maximize the very small financial numbers that they could (gain) from doing these things,” Self said. “Those things aren’t near as important. That doesn’t even rate on an importance chart. … I just hope like heck, like everybody, that he gets healthy and he’s back competing in a short period of time.”
Fifth-ranked Kansas (6-1) is slated to open Big 12 Conference play at No. 14 Texas Tech (6-1) at 6 p.m. Thursday on ESPN.
