Injuries

QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's All-BIG EAST senior swingman Anthony Mason Jr. will miss the rest of the 2008-09 season, head men's basketball coach Norm Roberts announced on Friday night. Mason Jr. will undergo surgery to repair a torn peroneal tendon in his right foot.

"We are all disappointed and feel for Anthony," said Roberts. "This is an unfortunate situation, but it is part of the game. We believe that Mase will come back from this, a stronger player and a stronger person."

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.

OXFORD, Miss. ? The Ole Miss men's basketball team lost a key member of its backcourt for the second time in less than two weeks when the team learned Tuesday that starting junior guard Eniel Polynice will miss the remainder of the season following knee surgery.

Polynice had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday. The procedure was a follow-up to an initial injury at the end of last season, when he missed the Rebels' first-round NIT game against UC Santa Barbara.

ATLANTA – Georgia Tech senior D’Andre Bell will miss the 2008-09 season due to a congenital condition known as spinal stenosis, head coach Paul Hewitt announced Wednesday.

The 6-6 guard from Los Angeles, Calif., discovered the condition after he hit his head on a teammate’s leg diving for a loose ball during a conditioning workout on Oct. 10, and felt numbness in his extremities. Tuesday, Bell was examined by Dr. John Heller, a world-renowned spine surgeon at the Emory Orthopedic and Spine Center, and was told at that time he would not be able to continue to play basketball.

By: Steve Kyler

 

 

Syracuse shooting guard Eric Devendorf has received an extra year of athletic eligibility. Devendorf will count as a junior for athletic purposes, even though this is his fourth year academically.

He tore is ACL last December against ETSU, and then missed the final 25 of Syracuse's 35 game schedule. In the 10 games played, the sharp-shooter out of Bay City, MI averaged 17 ppg.

LOS ANGELES - USC sophomore guard Marcus Simmons is expected to miss 8-12 weeks of action following surgery to remove additional bone growth in his left leg due to complications from an ankle injury last season, announced USC head basketball coach Tim Floyd today (Sept. 19).

PITTSBURGH(AP) The NCAA rejected Pittsburgh forward Mike Cook's request for an extra year of eligibility on Wednesday. His senior season was cut short by a knee injury.

Cook played 11 games before injuring his knee Dec. 20 during overtime of a 65-64 win over Duke.

Under NCAA rules, an extra year of eligibility is possible if the athlete plays 30 percent or fewer of the team's games. Cook played 11 of 32 games - or 34 percent.

He averaged 10.4 points last season. Pitt was 40-8 with Cook as a starter.

NORMAL, Ill. - Illinois State senior forward Brandon Sampay underwent surgery Monday to repair a congenital condition in his left hip, and as a result, will be sidelined for four-to-five months. Sampay's surgery went well, and he has already begun the rehabilitation process.

ATLANTA - Ra'Sean Dickey, a senior center for Georgia Tech's men's basketball team, has decided to red-shirt the 2007-08 season.

The 6-10, 250-pound Dickey, who has missed the first eight games of the season due to academic ineligibility, also has been forced to miss considerable practice time because of acute tendonitis in his right knee and is not yet able to play.