Two WAC stars go down with foot injuries

The two favorites in the WAC both are dealing with serious injuries to potential all-conference performers.

Utah State's Nate Bendall, a 6'10" post player that is the Aggie's second leading returning scorer and rebounder, has been dealing with a pre-stress fracture in his foot that has kept him out of workouts the past week. Bendall broke the same foot last summer, which means the training staff at Utah State will likely be very careful in dealing with this injury. The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that he may be out until after the Aggie's season opener against Weber State.

With Bendell out, it appears as if Stew Morrill will slide Tai Wesley, USU's burly power forward, over to the center spot, pushing Brady Jardine up to the first team with Matt Formisano and Morgan Grim playing more predominant roles off the bench.

New Mexico State may be dealing with a more serious foot injury.

Wendell McKines, a 6'6" senior forward that nearly averaged a double-double last season with also handing out 3.1 apg and knocking down 37.2% of his three, broke his foot in practice on Saturday. He will be out indefinitely. The good news for Marvin Menzies' Aggies is that their strength is in the front court. Starters Troy Gillenwater and Hamidu Rahman while a plethora of younger guys will fight for the minutes McKines' injury makes available.

For what its worth, we pegged McKines as a preseason first team all-WAC performer while Bendall made our second team.