Sword out 4-6 weeks

[elitedawgs]

Surgery for a bulging disc in his back.

Zuppardo out for season, torn ACL and meniscus

[TheRef]

Well.......there goes one of our leaders.

[msstate7]

WTF!!!!

[thedawg]

Poor Rick Ray... Guy can't catch a break

[Dawg61]

Motherfu@ker

[Johnson85]

4-6 weeks from now? Or the first 4-6 weeks of the season?

If our S&C program is not causing injuries, Ray is just snake bit. Not sure you can use the injury bug as an excuse for 3 straight years.

[maroonmania]

Don't know what the issue is but injuries are just systemic in Ray's program. Something somewhere needs to be reevaluated with how things are done. Either that are Ray is the most cursed man in the country relative to having players get injured.

[BeardoMSU]

Damn, that really sucks.

[thf24]

4-6 weeks from now? Or the first 4-6 weeks of the season?

That's what I'm wondering. I think we can survive without Sword for the first 1-3 weeks, but not the first 4-6.

This isn't as debilitating as the injuries of the past few years since we're in much better shape in overall numbers, but I thought Zuppardo was going to play a key role for us and we might end up suffering in that regard.

[TheRef]

4-6 weeks from now? Or the first 4-6 weeks of the season?

If our S&C program is not causing injuries, Ray is just snake bit. Not sure you can use the injury bug as an excuse for 3 straight years.

I assume 4-6 weeks from now since he had the surgery Thursday.

[ScottH]

Ok I cant help it.

Isnt this why you have a full roster?

[Dawg61]

Elijah Staley has to be a better player than Zuppardo. Staley is a 4* player that had an offer from Georgetown. Hate this for Zuppardo. This type of injury has to mean the end of his career at MSU and that just sucks for him.

[msstate7]

Surgery for a bulging disc in his back.

Zuppardo out for season, torn ACL and meniscus

I hate both of these, but thank God it's not the other way around

[TheRef]

Zuppardo will try for a medical hardship

[Dawg61]

Zuppardo will try for a medical hardship

And he'll get it but odds are against him being ready to play next year too so are we really going to redshirt a Juco player coming off a 2 year recovery that when healthy was a role player at best? No way. Sorry to be insensitive but that's the reality of the situation.

[gtowndawg]

but it's an indictment on basketball, especially MSU basketball. But I have no idea who Zuppardo is. None whatsoever.

And I use to know everything there was to know about State basketball. I think it's just a mixture of basketball losing steam with fans and us being terrible I guess.

[Irondawg]

Ray is just snakebit, as much as some of the fans jump on him it's becoming impossible to evaluate him b/c the deck always seemed staked against him. This was the evaulation year for him and you just took away his one guy that could really create off the dribble.

[Coach34]

Zuppardo was going to be a role player

our season is on Chicken, IJ, FTF, Daniels, Ware, Roq, Bloodman, and Houston for the most part.

[msstate7]

I wonder how long it will take sword to get into basketball shape after he heals

[HoopsDawg]

Zuppardo was going to be a role player

our season is on Chicken, IJ, FTF, Daniels, Ware, Roq, Bloodman, and Houston for the most part.

correct. not many shooters in that group.

[Coach34]

correct. not many shooters in that group.

We damn sure don't have anybody you would call a sniper

[msstate7]

We damn sure don't have anybody you would call a sniper

Maybe fred can build on how he ended last season

[Quaoarsking]

And he'll get it but odds are against him being ready to play next year too so are we really going to redshirt a Juco player coming off a 2 year recovery that when healthy was a role player at best? No way. Sorry to be insensitive but that's the reality of the situation.

We'll redshirt Zuppardo this year, he'll play whatever he can next year (his junior year), and hopefully he'll be good to go as a senior in 2016-17. No need to kick him off the team just yet.

[Johnson85]

And he'll get it but odds are against him being ready to play next year too so are we really going to redshirt a Juco player coming off a 2 year recovery that when healthy was a role player at best? No way. Sorry to be insensitive but that's the reality of the situation.

Yes, we're going to redshirt him regardless because it doesn't hurt us to. Don't know a ton about him, but what I've seen he wasn't going to be relying on a ton of explosiveness anyway. He's going to have 12+ months to rehab. He'll be on the team next year, and if he can play passable defense at the 4 and shoot threes at a 35%+ clip, he'll have a scholarship for a 5th year if he wants it. If all he gets is scrub minutes next year, he probably won't have a scholarship for a 5th year, or at least not an athletic one. No clue what kind of arrangements we'd make for a JUCO transfer to get a 5th year of scholarship if he's not on the team. Then again the numbers may work out where he can keep a scholarship even if he's nothing but a scrub player. Even if we get Malik and he brings some top tier talent with him so that we have to make room after next year, he's still going to be on the team for this year and on scholarship as a redshirt player.

[CadaverDawg]

I was digging through some old newspapers I've saved over the years the other day, and I came across papers from when we won the SEC, SEC Tourney, went to the Final four, etc....Thanks for this disappointing first bball news of the season to make me realize just what bball hell we are in.

I hate it for Sword. And IJ's first injury is only a few weeks away, so we are already down 2. 3 if you count the Z guy that nobody's ever heard of. **** me.

[Brad Stevens]

We damn sure don't have anybody you would call a sniper

I have said it before and I will say it again: Maurice Dunlap can shoot and he can jump out of the gym. No one can deny we had plenty of open looks last year from I.J./Sword penetrating and kicking. Our problem was that we rarely made those open shots consistently. I see Dunlap as that guy. I also see him being able to rise up and shoot over taller defenders. Will he go through some freshman nervousness and mistakes? I'm sure he will. But, he will be a fine shooter.

Obviously, having Chicken out for a little while hurts, but hopefully he will be back at full force in time for SEC play. Maybe, it allows for guys like Houston and Dunlap to get some good experience early in the season to prepare them for the filler minutes we will need in SEC play. I hate Zuppardo is out for the year, but I still think we will be fine with Ware/Daniels/Johnson/Ndoye/Black.

[hailmari]

Two year recovery? Naw. He'll play next year.

[Irondawg]

Zup was going to be a role player but could have been a nice zone buster option for us and was just some post depth

[tcdog70]

We still don't have any guards that can defend. If all your guards are shorter than 6' , then they will be shot over rather easily. I think Ray was going to try Chicken at the Point but now that looks screwed.

[Coach34]

ACL injuries are pretty much recovered by the 10 month mark these days. Zuppardo will be fine next season

[Dawg61]

ACL injuries are pretty much recovered by the 10 month mark these days. Zuppardo will be fine next season

Hope you're right. Hate it for him. Anyone know our walk-on or guys not on scholarship but going to dress for us situation? You know I love me some back of the bench players.