Matthew Ryter's Blog

The Story: North Carolina Freshman Tyler Zeller is likely out for the season after fracturing his left wrist attempting a dunk in a win over Kentucky. Zeller underwent surgery at UNC Hospitals to repair his broken left radius and ulna. Dr. Don Bynum, who performed the surgery, deemed it as successful and expects Zeller to make a full recovery. The normal recovery time for this injury is 12 to 16 weeks.

 

The Story: ESPN is featuring its first annual College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon starting at 11:59 pm tonight (Nov. 17). The marathon will start with UMass at No. 12 Memphis and it concludes with tomorrow night's game of Kentucky at No. 1 North Carolina. The new initiative attempts to highlight the beginning of 2008-09 men's college basketball season.  During this marathon ESPN programs will include a game from five different U.S. time zones-Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, and Hawaiian.

The Story: Georgia Tech guard Lewis Clinch will miss at least the first seven games of the season because of poor grades.  Coach Paul Hewitt announced that Clinch will return to the team after the fall semester, which ends December 12, if he can regain his eligibility. Clinch averaged 23.5 minutes per game last year and started 14 of 32 games for the Yellow Jackets. Georgia Tech has already lost team captain D'Andre Bell this year to season ending surgery to correct a spinal condition.

The Story: The NCAA has granted a waiver request for USF basketball player Augustus "Gus" Gilchrist that will allow him to be eligible to play by mid-December. Gilchrist was ranked as a top 60 recruit in the class of 2007 by several recruiting services. He originally signed with Virginia Tech in November 2006 but was reportedly uncomfortable attending the college in the aftermath of the shootings.