The injury bug always seems to come at the same time as christmas cheer

Baylor freshman Stargell Love, who started the first game of the season for Baylor when AJ Walton was suspended, will miss the next 6-8 weeks after it was discovered that he has a stress fracture in his left foot.

Love has only played limited minutes (16.0 per game) with even more limited production (2.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 2.7 apg, 2.3 turnovers), but he is important because he is really the only other point guard on the Baylor roster behind Walton. Walton has averaged 10.4 ppg and 5.4 apg in give games, but he's been turnover prone, hasn't shown the best shot selection, and has a tendency to force tough shots.

Love isn't the only player that was injured over the weekend:

• Purdue has gotten even thinner. Already dealing with a torn acl to Robbie Hummel, on Monday the Boilermakers found out that Jon Hart, who averages 8.4 ppg and has given Purdue a much-needed scoring punch off the bench, will be out for at least a month after undergoing surgery for a stress fracture in his right foot. Purdue will look for Terone Johnson, Kelsey Barlow, and Lewis Jackson to up their scoring.
  
  It gets worse. DJ Byrd, who took a shot to the shoulder on Wednesday in Purdue's win over Virginia Tech, only played two minutes against Alabama. He looked like he was in serious pain after initially injuring the shoulder on Wednesday.

• Anyone that watched Duke's win over Butler saw Kyrie Irving limp off the court in the second half after his right foot turned awkwardly when he planted. Apparently, the injury is to his toe. Irving returned to the game, but according to Jeff Goodman he is currently in a walking boot and doubtful for Duke's game against Bradley tomorrow.


• Syracuse freshman Fab Melo was expected to not only be an impact player in the Big East, but many believed he would be one-and-done. And, well, he's not exactly been a dominating presence, averaging just 2.6 ppg and 2.6 rpg through eight games. Why? On a conference call for the Jimmy V Classic, Boeheim said that Melo has been dealing with an injury to his achilles that is giving his soreness in his heel. He's also dislocated a finger this season.


• Sunday's loss to Montana is still giving UCLA issues. Word out of Westwood is that Malcolm Lee, the Bruin's talented off-guard, strained a ligament in his right knee and will be listed as day-to-day.


• You have to feel for Charlie Dewhurst of Charlotte. He nearly gave up basketball this offseason due to a number of injuries that plagued him in his first three years with the 49ers. He just found out that he would be cleared to play tonight after injuring his knee in October. And what happens? Dewhurst broke his finger on Monday in practice. Ugh.
  

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Elias Harris injured; "I heard something pop" ... UPDATE: He'll be fine

UPDATE: Good thing we just did a post on this...

According the Jeff Goodman of FOXSports.com, Elias Harris did NOT tear his achilles. He'll miss about a week. Now, the question is whether or not he will be available for the CBE Classic. Gonzaga gets Kansas State on Monday, and could face Duke or Marquette on Tuesday depending Monday's results.

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Losing to San Diego State is a loss Gonzaga can overcome.

The Aztecs are criminally underrated (well, maybe not anymore) and got a career game out of one of their best players. The Zags still have plenty of opportunities to pick up enough quality wins to earn an at-large big.

A loss they cannot overcome would be Elias Harris.


Harris injured his shoulder a few weeks ago, so when he wasn't on the floor at the end of the game, that was the reason that some suspected. It turns out that he suffered a potentially serious foot injury:

Gonzaga standout sophomore forward Elias Harris left with an injury late in the game. "I think it's my Achilles' (tendon)," said Harris, who will have an MRI today. "I heard something pop. I couldn't get up in the air and I couldn't run any more."

If that's the case, then Harris will miss the rest of the season. He's getting an MRI today. It would be a huge blow to the Zags, as he was the favorite to win the WCC Player of the Year award in the preseason.

You can't replace a talent like Harris -- he's going to be a lottery pick whenever he turns pro -- but Gonzaga does have some pieces to make up for the loss. Kelly Olynyk and Sam Dower have been good early in the season, and Steven Gray is playing the best basketball of his career right now.

This team is still good enough to win the WCC.

But with the injury Harris, their Final Four aspirations may be headed out the window.
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Injuries out west

Most people spent the final minutes before the Tip-Off Marathon tipped off with Miami and Memphis watching UCLA outlast Pepperdine.

What you might have missed after you changed the channel was an injury to Bruin guard Malcolm Lee.

Lee sprained his ankle late in UCLA's win. X-ray's on the ankle came back negative, but Ben Howland said that Lee will be out for tonight's game with Pacific because he couldn't walk on it.

The rest of this post can be read at Beyond the Arc.

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Wake Forest loses their point guard, then loses to Stetson

It was a rough night for Wake Forest..

They lost to Stetson, 89-79, in a game that the Hatters controlled for much of the second half. They were up by as much as 19 at one point. In the history of Wake Forest basketball, Jeff Bzdelik became just the second coach to lose his opener. The game was in Winston-Salem. ACC teams losing at home to Atlantic Sun schools is not a good thing.

Can it get worse?

The rest of this post can be read at Beyond the Arc.

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Some news you might have missed: Lewis Jackson could miss the season

Earlier in November, Northwestern senior and second team all-Big Ten performer Kevin Coble broke his foot in such a way that surgery was required, ending his season. The story made its rounds on the blogs, and was still being talked about today, as Northwestern is visited by Butler.

Compare that to yesterday, when news broke that Lewis Jackson, the starting point guard for Purdue, had suffered a similar injury and will require surgery that could keep him out for the season as well.

Have you heard about that yet? We did link to an AP report in this morning's dump.

Lewis Jackson could miss the season after under going foot surgery.
(photo credit: Bleacher Report)

But where are the big guns on this? Reactions from Parrish, Goodman (Goodman has weighed in), Katz, Davis, and the rest of the notable CBB writers have yet to show up in my google reader.

I understand why the Coble story got so much play; Northwestern is the only major conference school that has not made the NCAA Tournament, but with Coble anchoring the team this year, a lot of people were predicting that the Wildcats would make the dance. Not only was it a feels-so-good-its-destined-to-be-a-movie storyline, but our hero - Coble - was a stand-up guy. Remember two years ago when he made the decision to miss the first semester of basketball to be with his mother, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, in his native Scottsdale?

So yeah, when it comes to compelling journalism, Coble's injury makes for a better read.

But when it comes to basketball, the injury to Jackson is just as, if not more, significant than Coble's.

Purdue is a top ten team, a Big Ten favorite, and a potential Final Four team. With Robbie Hummell, Keaton Grant, and Chris Kramer all healthy, and E'Twaun Moore and JaJuan Johnson primed for big junior years, it is easy to see why.

One of the issues Purdue had coming into the season, however, was depth. Beyond the five I mentioned and Jackson, the Boilermakers may not have an impact player on their roster. Ryne Smith is a shooter, and Sandi Marcius is a tough, 6'9" Croatian expected to be the first big man off the bench when he recovers from injury.

No where on that list do you see a point guard. Sure, Keaton Grant and E'Twaun Moore were solid sharing the role two years ago (before Jackson got to Purdue) and they could probably do an adequate job filling in this year.

But running the point is not where either of them are the most effective.

Moore is at his best when he is allowed to roam the perimeter and run off of screens. He can score, and is a better player when he is allowed to focus on doing just that, as opposed trying to run an offensive system. It is the same with Grant. An effective combo-guard that can play both the point and the two, he is at his best playing the role of spark plug off the bench.

With Moore, Grant, and Jackson available, it gives Painter a versatile array of line-ups at his disposal.

Without Jackson, this team does not have a true point guard on their roster.

Don't believe me? Then chew on this: Kelsey Barlow is expected to be the guy that gets Jackson's minutes and spot in the rotation. He is a 6'5" small forward that Painter nearly redshirted this season, and now will be asked to play minutes at the point.

Jackson brought with him a dimension that Purdue no longer has. He is a lightening quick point guard that can get into the lane, break a press, lead the occasional break, and create in the half court. His quickness with the ball cannot be replaced with the guys that Painter has.

That said, the key to Purdue's offense this season is getting the ball to their scorers (Hummell, Moore, Johnson) in a position that they can score. If Barlow, Grant, and company can do that, than the Boilermakers will still be a player in the Big Ten.
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UCLA's injuries continue to pile up

UCLA has been hit by the injury bug.

Bad.

J'Mison Morgan has an injured left knee; Malcolm Lee has a concussion; Jerime Anderson re-injured a nagging groin injury; Brendan Lane rolled an ankle; Mike Moser just returned to practice after straining his back; James Keefe also returned to practice after injuring shoulder; even Tyler Honeycutt (back fracture) and Ben Howland (appendectomy) dealt with serious injuries over the summer.

Michael Roll is the latest Bruin to go down.
(photo credit: pe.com)

And now, Michael Roll, who is expected to start on the wing for the Bruins, is out after spraining his right ankle.

While nothing here seems to really be season-ending, this bigger issue is that it takes away from practice time. These kids aren't going to be getting into shape. They aren't going to be learning the system that Howland wants to run this season. Hell, with this many people out, being able to go 5-on-5 in practice is going to be tough.

Injuries are never easy to deal with, especially when they pile up like this. But if you are going to get hurt, dealing with it in October is much better than if it were to happen in March.

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Drew Gordon of UCLA tears knee ligament

I'm not sure how much more difficult things could be on Ben Howland right now.

For the second straight season, he will be losing a ton of talent from his roster. After Kevin Love, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, and Russell Westbrook bolted for the pros in 2008, Howland loses essentially his entire starting line-up this off-season as Josh Shipp, Darren Collison, and Alfred Aboya graduated and Jrue Holiday made the leap to the league.

With a roster that will be obscenely young (Michael Roll, James Keefe, and Nikola Dragovic are the only players that will see minutes that aren't freshmen or sophomores), Howland will have to depend heavily on some of the sophomores that saw minutes as freshmen in leadership roles.

That task just got more difficult as Drew Gordon, a 6'8" forward that averaged 3.6 ppg and 3.4 rpg in 10.9 mpg and was projected to start as a sophomore, injured his knee on Tuesday. The injury was suffered during the 2009 USA U19 team trials in Colorado Springs.

Gordon apparently partially tore the patellar tendon in his right knee. It is not yet known exactly how serious the injury is, whether surgery will be required, and how long Gordon will be out of commission.

But I can tell you one thing: anytime "tear" and "knee" are involved in the same sentence, it is not a good sign.

If Gordon is not ready to go by the start of the season, expect Keefe, sophomore J'Mison Morgan, and freshmen Brendan Lane and Reeves Nelson to compete for the minutes.

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Busy Friday for St. Mary's

Patty Mills has officially been cleared to participate in the WCC Tournament. We heard earlier in the week that Mills was cleared to start practicing.

This is huge news for the Gaels. They are the #2 seed in the WCC Tournament, which means that they get a bye to Sunday's semifinals. According to Andy Katz, Mills will be going through five-on-five contact drills on Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas with the team. He has been doing shooting drills, and if you believe what head coach Randy Bennett says, "you would never know" Mills had broke his hand.

The more important issue is that now St. Mary's has a chance to prove that, with Mills, they are the team that was 18-1 and ranked and not the team that has gone 6-4 without him.

Personally, I don't know how much effect it will have on the Gaels tournament chances. I cannot recall a situation like this ever happening. In 2000, Cincinnati looked like they were a lock for a #1 seed before Kenyon Martin broke his leg in the C-USA tournament. Cinci ended up losing, and the committee dropped the Bearcats to a #2 seed because they were not the same team with Martin that they were with him.

So if Cinci got punished for not having Martin, would it not make sense that St. Mary's should be credited for getting Mills back?

There is a real simple way for the Gaels to solve this problem.

Win the WCC.

If they really are better than Gonzaga with Mills (as many, including me, have speculated based on their record and the whooping they were putting on Gonzaga when Mills was injured), then shouldn't it stand to reason that St. Mary's can beat whoever they play in the semi's and, assuming the 'Zags win as well, beat them in the finals? Would it not be easier to lock up an automatic bid than to have to hope that a group of ten people can decide on how good the Gaels really are?

Also of note for the Gaels is that they did decide to schedule another game. Next Friday, Eastern Washington will travel to St. Mary's to play the Gaels.

St. Mary's is allowed to schedule another game because they didn't reach their maximum of 30 in the regular season. Eastern Washington is allowed an extra game because they played at Hawaii.

As I said before, the game is not being played with the intention of trying to impress the selection committee. If St. Mary's does, in fact, make the dance, they will be going 9 or 10 days between games, which is far too much for a team trying to reincorporate such an important piece back into their line-up. Continue reading...

Blake Griffin: Still Not Ready To Play

Concussions are no laughing matter. Too many can end a career.

Which is why Oklahoma is being extra cautious with their talented big man. During Monday's game, Tommy Griffin (Blake and Taylor's father) told the Oklahoman that while his son was getting better, he was still far from being ready to play.

And if you watched that game, it is easy to believe. Griffin was into it and enthusiastic on the sidelines as OU made their comeback, but there were also times when he clearly was being affected by the lights in the gym. He looked very woozy at times as well.

Now this from Jeff Capel. Asked about whether Griffin will play on Saturday against Texas Tech:

Right now we still have no clue. It takes time, and we're not going to do anything to rush it. We want him to be OK before he plays again or before we even put him in a position to practice with us again. He's getting better. But it's a slow process, and we don't want to speed it up.

To be honest, I think the Sooners are going about this the right way. The game against Texas Tech doesn't matter (hell, they should win that game without the big fella). After that, OU plays Missouri and Oklahoma State, two much tougher games (although at this point in the season, any loss will essentially end OU's chances of winning the Big XII outright). Continue reading...

Dominic James Fractures Bone In His Left Foot

We will update this story as more comes out, but the ESPN guys at the UConn-Marquette game are reporting that Dominic James has fractured the fifth-metatarsal bone in his left foot. He is probably done for the season.

This is one of those injuries that just breaks your heart. James is a senior that has really adapted his game to better his team, and Marquette is having fantastic season with him running the point. You hate seeing anyone get hurt, but to see a senior lose the rest of his college career in a season where he has a chance to win a Big East regular season title ...

I feel for the kid. Here's to hoping they got the original diagnosis wrong.

UPDATE: They didn't. He's out for the year. Continue reading...

Injury News and Notes: Jerome Dyson and Steph Curry

Jerome Dyson underwent surgery on his right knee to repair the lateral meniscus, which will keep him out of uniform for the rest of the season. A lot of "experts" have said that losing Dyson is not going to hurt the Huskies too much. They have depth. Kemba Walker is one of the nest freshman guards in the county. Craig Austrie is a senior that has started 50-some-odd games in his career.

Let us not forget that Dyson missed nine games last season, and UConn went 8-1 in those games, playing their best basketball of the year.

But Dyson is a much different player than he was last season. As a sophomore, Dyson was coming in as the leading scorer, as the go-to guy. He was UConn's star.

During the season, however, as the team evolved, fewer and fewer plays were called for him. Hasheem Thabeet, Jeff Adrien, and AJ Price began to emerge as possible all-Big East players. Dyson was having trouble accepting a role on the team, which resulted in forced shots and lackadaisical defense.

Jerome Dyson hurt his knee trying to fight through
a screen by Kristoff Ongenaet of Syracuse.
(Photo Credit: Washington Post)

When Dyson sat out is when UConn really started to click as a "team".

But Jerome came out a completely different player with a whole new attitude this season. He relished being the defensive stopper for UConn. He thrived as their hustle guy. As a result, he got a ton of points off of run outs and offensive rebounds. But he also started to earn a reputation on a national level as one of the best defenders and best athletes that play the wing.

Kemba Walker is an excellent on-ball defender. He can harass any point guard in the country into a turnover. You want proof? Levance Fields leads the nation in assist:turnover ratio at 3.9. Last night, when Pitt was up six and Fields was trying to protect the ball and kill clock, Walker forced not one, but two turnovers by Fields.

But Walker is no where near as good a defender off the ball. He was the one that lost Fields on two straight possessions, allowing the senior two wide open looks at a three from the top of the key.

It is safe to say that Jerome Dyson would not have given Fields two looks that were that open.

Dyson brings much more to the table than just the numbers he puts up. Losing him for the season is a huge blow to the Huskies title chances.

In other injury news, Stephen Curry is off of crutches and might be ready to go on Saturday when Davidson takes on Butler in BracketBusters. Knowing from experience, putting a player on crutches after an ankle injury is a pretty common move, even if the injury is not all that serious. I would expect Curry to be in uniform come Saturday. Continue reading...

11/19 - Some Links, Some News

A lot to get you caught up on. Some of this we mentioned in passing during the live-blog, so bear with us.

-Tyler Zeller, the freshman who has been starting in place of Tyler Hansbrough for UNC, broke his wrist last night after a nasty spill on a missed dunk attempt. Video of it here. Once Hansbrough gets back, it probably won't be that big of a deal for the Heels (although it sucks for Zeller, who looked pretty good in the first two games - he had multiple fractures in the wrist and underwent surgery last night). With Hansbrough and Deon Thompson starting, there probably wasn't going to be too many minutes to go around for freshmen Zeller and Ed Davis, and Davis is a better rebounder and defender than Zeller. But the question is, when will Hansbrough be back? He practiced Monday (although by practice, they mean took a few jumpers and did some jogging).

More news from the UNC-Kentucky game: Ashley Judd sat in the student section. Pictures can be found here.

-Xavier Henry, a top 5 2009 recruit, has chosen to go to Memphis. Fellow top 5 recruit John Wall just visited Memphis. You think the Tigers were good last year?

-Mississippi's back court is falling apart. First, it was Trevor Gaskins with an ACL. Now, it is Eniel Polynice, the Rebels most versatile perimeter player, who underwent arthoscopic surgery on his knee.

-Alex Stephenson's appeal to play immediately at USC was denied by the NCAA, meaning that the UNC transfer will have to sit out the year.

-The Final Four sites for 2009-2016.

-More from Jeff Goodman: Loyola coach Jimmy Patsos spent the game sitting at the end of the bench against Cornell. Apparently, he picked up an early tech and didn't want to get tossed.

-Dana O'Neil with a look at the recruiting game.
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Pitt's Gilbert Brown is hurt and Memphis is banged up

Some more injury news. Pitt got some more injury news as Gilbert Brown, who was expected to start for the Panthers, will be out for around two weeks with a stress fracture in his left foot. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Brown likely will miss the season opener Nov. 14 against Fairleigh Dickinson. Brown did not mention the injury after Sunday night's exhibition game against Seton Hill, but he had been experiencing some discomfort in the foot the past few weeks. Dixon said that the foot does not bother Brown when he plays, but he has pain the following day.

It wasn't all bad for the Panthers, as an MRI on Levance Fields foot showed that the fractured bone was healing well. He is currently practicing two days on, one day off.

Gary Parrish spent the day with Memphis on Monday, but apparently didn't get the full experience. According to Parrish:

There was Antonio Anderson, hanging out under a basket, a device attached to his lower leg designed to help with shin splints. To his left was Tyreke Evans and Angel Garcia, both on the sideline watching, Evans with a sprained ankle, Garcia with a sprained knee. And then there was C.J. Henry still recovering from a broken foot.

Anderson should be practicing by the end of the week and Evans should be back by the opener on Nov. 15th, but Garcia and Henry are both expected to be out until at least December. Continue reading...

Marcus Ginyard Injured

Marcus Ginyard underwent surgery on a stress fracture in his left foot today, meaning he will be out about eight weeks. Apparently, Ginyard played much of last season in pain, even being forced to wear a boot at times (according to the AP, team officials called the injury a "stress reaction"). In August, he sprained his left ankle, which aggravated the foot injury. In a statement, coach Roy Williams said

You hate this for Marcus because he has worked so hard to get ready for his senior season, but he decided it was better to have the surgery now and be ready sometime in December than risk a more substantial injury that would knock him out of action later in the season.

If the injury is really an eight week thing, then Ginyard could be back by the Michigan State game in the ACC/Big Ten challenge on December 3rd, and possibly the Maui Invitational at the end of November. Hopefully (for Tar Heel fans) Ginyard will be back to 100% by the time the ACC season rolls around in January. While UNC is talented enough to overcome the loss of Ginyard for a time, it will still hurt because he is probably the Heels best perimeter defender, and if you saw them play last year you know that they can ill afford to lose anyone that will actually play some defense. Continue reading...