After last week's nice and breezy topic on freaky physical specimens, this week's Ten for Tuesday plumbs the depths of college basketball.
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| With B.J. Elder out with a hamstring injury, Georgia Tech has lost three of its past five. (Getty Images) |
Let's get clear on some qualifying standards. First, the impacted team had to be a legitimate NCAA contender, assuming everyone was healthy. That rules out injuries at Rhode Island, Southern California and Washington State, to name three.
Second, the impacted team has to have been noticeably, you know, impacted. Hence the omission of Kansas (Wayne Simien), UCLA (Cedric Bozeman), Washington (Brandon Roy), Florida (Matt Walsh), Nevada (Marcellus Kemp) and Utah (Richard Chaney), all of whom have excelled anyway.
The 10:
1. PF Leon Powe, California: Worst injury on the list. The Bears' NCAA hopes were doused in September thanks to Powe's disagreeable knee, which didn't heal as hoped from April surgery and required additional surgery. With the Pac-10 so wide open, Cal (8-7) surely would have been a factor with Powe (15.1 ppg, 9.5 rpg as a freshman) leading four returning starters. Without him? Reaching the NIT will be difficult, though the Bears have done exceptionally well under the circumstances, including the loss of point guard Ayinde Ubaka (foot) for 11 games.
2. G Jeremy Hunt, Memphis: Fingers are being pointed all over the place for the talented Tigers' 9-8 start, but the early-season loss of Hunt (knee) was debilitating. He missed nine games, a crushing blow to the Tigers' backcourt depth, and now is out again after being charged last week with misdemeanor assault. Hunt (9.6 ppg in 2003-04) would have been freshman PG Darius Washington's backup as well as a starter on the wing. Memphis could have used juco transfer Waki Williams (knee) at forward, too, especially with Sean Banks ineligible the rest of the way.
3. C Jason Fraser, Villanova: The Wildcats survived injuries earlier this season to PG Kyle Lowry (knee) and SF Curtis Sumpter, and they even survived a flareup of Fraser's knee trouble. But this? The broken hand Fraser (7.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg) suffered while having a 25-point, 13-rebound career night against Providence? If Villanova (9-3) survives this, and by survival we mean a trip to the NCAA Tournament, Jay Wright should be given tenure. The early returns, however, are not good. In their first game without Fraser, Part II, the Wildcats lost 66-64 to visiting Georgetown.
4. G A.J. Price, UConn: The math is simple. The Huskies' top three big men this season (Josh Boone, Charlie Villanueva and Rudy Gay) are easily out-producing last season's big three (Emeka Okafor, Boone, Villanueva) in points, rebounds and blocked shots. Point guard Marcus Williams has nearly identical numbers to Taliek Brown. The missing ingredient for UConn (10-3)? Wing offense, thanks to Ben Gordon's departure and the slumps of Rashad Anderson and Denham Brown. This is where Price (brain condition), a 6-2 freshman, would have made an enormous impact as a Gordon-like player who can shoot, penetrate and create for others.
5. PG Julius Hodge, N.C. State: The Wolfpack's four-game losing streak began with Hodge (ankle), who was injured in the loss at St. John's, missed the home loss to West Virginia and wasn't full strength for the loss at Miami. Momentum? Gone. Physically, N.C. State (11-5) is better than an NCAA Tournament bubble team. Mentally, the Wolfpack must rebound, a process they began Sunday by defeating Georgia Tech. Tony Bethel's mystery ailment hasn't helped, either, but the key is Hodge (18.8 ppg) -- the Wolfpack's only double-figure scorer as well as their leader in rebounds, assists and steals.
6. SG B.J. Elder, Georgia Tech: After a 9-1 start marred only by a loss to Gonzaga, the Jackets (11-4) have lost three of five games since Elder (hamstring) got hurt. That includes the loss that started the slide, a 70-68 heartbreaker at Kansas, because the Jackets were dominating Kansas until Elder (13.2 ppg) got hurt midway through the first half. Since then the Jackets have gone from awesome to average, winning the games they should (at home against Miami and Virginia Tech) and losing the games they could (at North Carolina, at N.C. State). The Jackets are obviously an NCAA Tournament team, but they're seed is dropping.
7. SF Lester Abram, Michigan: The Wolverines (12-5) are doomed to life on the NCAA bubble for the next two months, a sentence handed down in early December when Abram (shoulder) was shut down for the season. It didn't help matters when guard Daniel Horton (knee) also went out, missing losses to Boston University and UCLA while the Wolverines played walk-ons. Horton returned Jan. 5 to lead an upset win at No. 14 Iowa, giving Michigan fans hope for an NCAA bid -- and more reason to play the what-if game concerning Abram (13.1 ppg in 2003-04).
8. PF Brian Johnson, Louisville: The Cardinals (14-3) have a laundry list of injuries, the worst the torn ACL suffered by Johnson, a 6-9, 245-pound freshman and probable starter. His absence has been exacerbated by injuries to big men Ellis Myles, Otis George and Juan Palacios, though it was PG Taquan Dean's recurring back spasms that probably cost the Cards a loss at Houston. Palacios' injury probably cost Louisville a win against Kentucky. The Cardinals are still going to the NCAA Tournament, but injuries have downgraded them from Final Four contender.
9. SG Winsome Frazier, Miss. State: Anyone who didn't understand Frazier's importance to Lawrence Roberts and Co. ought to be getting the picture now. In their first game without their leading perimeter scorer, the Bulldogs (15-3) lost 64-63 at Tennessee. No, losing a road game in the SEC isn't necessarily the first sign of trouble. But consider this: The loss snapped the Bulldogs' national-best 16-game road winning streak, and it came days after Tennessee had lost by 25 to Vanderbilt -- in the same building. Remember last season, when LSU dropped from mid-level NCAA seed to the NIT after losing star center Jaime Lloreda? The Bulldogs have a great record, but now they must do what LSU could not -- prove they're an NCAA-caliber team without their injured star. Beating Arkansas was a good start.
10. PF Mohamed Tangara, Arizona: The 6-9, 240-pound freshman might have been the final piece for the Wildcats (14-3), who have stars everywhere else but have been so unimpressed by power forwards Ivan Radenovic and Isaiah Fox that they pulled 6-10 sophomore Kirk Walters from his redshirt season last week. Tangara (back) played meager minutes in five games before being shut down, probably for the season.
