Jin Soo Choi Sprains Right Ankle, Leaves Maryland With Three Frontcourt Players

Okay, so plenty of good things happened yesterday - like Greivis Vasquez with 13 assists, and the big men combining for 20 points and 15 boards - but one thing that wasn't good was Jin Soo Choi spraining his right ankle. While not as bad as Steve Goins' mystery knee injury, Gary said it "didn't look good", and that "hopefully" he'll be able to play on Tuesday against Fairfield. That's a pretty rough ankle sprain. Even if he plays, I expect his play will be affected by it for a couple weeks.

Calling JSC a "frontcourt" player is a stretch in its own right - the dude is still Nicole Richie-skinny and flailed around in the post - but he was a body, dammit. And that's a body Maryland doesn't have now.

The worries I had earlier about possibly dropping an early game due to a lack of bigs are evaporating, because James Padgett and Jordan Williams looked really good against CSU, but it's still a bit disconcerting that there are so few options. Williams will have to get in shape real quick - he needed to anyway, but now he'll really need to. He was visibly tired at the end and his earlier sprints turned to trots. He'll now have to absorb even a few more minutes.

The good news about it all is that Williams and Padgett are getting their feet wet quickly and are getting a lot of PT, and that's how players get better. When Gregory and Choi and Goins all return, the team will be much, much stronger, meaning the second half of the year should be pretty good. The bad thing about it is that if there's one more injury, I'll be legitimately scared, Fairfield or not. We're reaching a pretty critical point with these injuries.