Kansas basketball receives fantastic news about Jayhawks stars Hunter Dickinson, Kevin McCullar

When Hunter Dickinson dislocated his shoulder in the second half of a 30-point loss to Houston over the weekend, Kansas basketball fans saw the team's season flash before their eyes. The Big 12 Newcomer of the Year and All-Big 12 First Team honoree was in danger of missing the remainder of the season.

Dickinson is not the only Jayhawk dealing with an injury right now. Fifth-year guard Kevin McCullar, who leads the conference in scoring, missed five games during league play due to a bone bruise in his knee. He sat out the second half of the loss to Houston for rest purposes.

However, the Jayhawks might have caught a break with Dickinson's injury. Bill Self revealed information about his injury on the radio show "Hawk Talk" yesterday, and KU's head coach had some encouraging words about the injury statuses of his two star players.

"The good news is [Dickinson] should be practicing full speed by the start of next week, so he'll be available to us with the NCAA Tournament," Self said. "And not only available, but he should be fine. I mean, he'll be conditioning and doing non-contact basketball stuff by Thursday or Friday."

Shoulder dislocations often require surgery and months of recovery and rehab, so Kansas caught a massive break with Dickinson. While it is not a guarantee, Coach Self suggested that he will be back for the first round of March Madness.

Self did mention that McCullar and Dickinson would sit out the Big 12 Tournament, which begins tomorrow night. Kansas will be very shorthanded when they take on the winner of Cincinnati vs. West Virginia, but the extended period of rest could also help them in the long run.

He did not fully confirm Dickinson would return for the tournament, but he did for McCullar, who is simply receiving extra recovery time for his banged-up knee. "Our goal for Kevin is very similar to Hunter in that non-contact stuff and then by Monday be practicing and doing that, so that's what we're hopeful for," he said.

Being without the team's best two players in the conference tourney is not ideal for Kansas basketball, but the ultimate goal is to win in the NCAA Tournament. "We should be the most healthy we've been in a long time when the NCAA Tournament starts," Self would later say.