NCAA committee chairman: Injuries to play a factor in seeding

Kansas freshman Joel Embiid is averaging 11.2 points and 8.1 rebounds a game this season. (Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

NCAA committee chairman Ron Wellman says that when it comes to seeding for this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament, the committee will consider injuries to players.

Teams like Kansas and Michigan State have dealt with injuries all season, with the Jayhawks announcing earlier this week that they will be without freshman center Joel Embiid for at least the Big 12 tournament.

There is precedence for the committee taking injuries into account when it comes to seeding.

In 2004, Connecticut dealt with center Emeka Okafor's injured back. The Huskies were shipped to the West Region as a No. 2 seed and went on to win the national title. In 2000, Cincinnati's Kenyon Martin broke his leg in the conference tournament and missed the rest of the season.  The Bearcats were also a two seed in the South, but lost in the round of 32 to Tulsa.

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“I can assure you, in any situation, whether it regards an injury or an overall evaluation of a team, the committee not only looks at the victory or the won-loss record, we look at how the team played, who they played, where they played that particular team,” Wellman said, via CBSSports.com. “So it is a very deep evaluation of a team.”