The most significant injury in the country is Ty Lawson’s ankle. Sherron Collins’ knee is a close second.
Kansas coach Bill Self has had Collins at 100 percent for just two games the entire season.
Collins, arguably the toughest player on the Jayhawks, bruised his patella underneath his kneecap a couple weeks ago and has barely practiced since. Collins played 18 minutes in Wednesday’s win at Iowa State and finished with seven points.
"That was the best he’s moved in a while,” Self said. “It’s just a bruised bone, but he feels it every time his knee bends. He seems to be getting better, though.”
Self said Collins couldn’t move prior to Wednesday’s game and doctors have said it’s going to take time.
Self’s team has also had top deal with off-court issues in the last couple weeks. Darnell Jackson’s first cousin died last week of gunshot wounds while he was at an Oklahoma City club. Fellow senior Rodrick Stewart’s adopted brother was murdered and died the same day as Jackson’s cousin.
HACKETT DIFFERENCE-MAKER
The numbers may not have been overly impressive, but USC is a completely different team without Daniel Hackett.
Hackett, who had missed the last three games, played 24 minutes and scored all five of his points in the final seven minutes in USC’s 70-58 road win at Arizona.
Hackett said he felt “weird” in the beginning of the game, but then he felt no effects from the back and hip injury that has forced him to sit since Feb. 9.
"Right now it’s just a matter of keeping my back loose,” Hackett said after the victory. “I just can’t do any crazy moves.”
Hackett, while admitting his athleticism may not be on the same level as Arizona freshman Jerryd Bayless, did a nice job defensively on Thursday night. Trojans coach Tim Floyd went with the triangle-and-two defense to focus on Bayless and Chase Budinger for much of the game.
"The whole nation’s eyes were on us,” Hackett said of the game. “People wanted to see which team was better between us and Arizona. This was a big win for us.”
CAUSEY CONCUSSION
Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said despite Matt Causey being cleared by the trainer to play in the second half against Duke, he never would have played the senior guard had he seen some of the signs that were caught on television:
Causey suffered a concussion after hitting his head on the floor following a collision with Duke’s Greg Paulus.
"Our medical people still stand by their decision to allow him to play,” Hewitt said. “With that said, I never would have played him had I since some of the things I saw on tape after the game. It looked awful and I was sick to my stomach. When I saw it, I had no idea.”
Causey told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that he fluttered his eyes on purpose and that it wasn’t an involuntary effect from the concussion.
"I got some weird eye movements, anyway,” Causey told the AJC. “I was just trying to get my perception, my vision, back.”
PATTERSON'S INJURY DESTROYS ANY TOURNEY HOPES
With Patrick Patterson, it was going to be difficult for Kentucky to get to the NCAA tournament.
Without him, it'll take a near-miracle from the Wildcats.
Billy Gillispie still needs at least a couple more victories down the stretch and a solid showing in the SEC tournament to make a legitimate case for the Big Dance.
Now he'll have no post presence to do so.
JMU CANDIDATES
James Madison is looking for someone with head coaching experience to replace Dean Keener at the end of the season.
According to sources, Florida assistant and ex-Clemson head coach Larry Shyatt is at or near the top of the list. Other names mentioned are Mike Jarvis, Buzz Peterson and Tom Herrion.
NATIONAL PREP CHAMPIONSHIP SCHEDULE
The National Prep Championships, which includes the top eight teams in the country, will be held at Fordham from March 4-6 and will begin Tuesday with four quarterfinal games. The semifinals will be at 6 and 8 p.m. on Wednesday and the championship game is Thursday at 7 p.m. Here are the quarterfinal matchups.
5 p.m. - No. 1 Hargrave vs. No. 8 St. Thomas More 6:30 p.m. – No. 4 Brewster vs. No. 5 American Christian 8 p.m. – No. 3 Patterson vs. No. 6 Notre Dame Prep 9:30 p.m. – No. 2 Findlay Prep vs. No. 7 Harmony School
RANDOM NOTES: St. John’s president, Reverend Donald Harrington, was in favor of giving coach Norm Roberts another season to see how the young talent comes along. Roberts has five freshmen and one sophomore among his top eight players.
The two-time defending national champion Florida Gators are back in the Top 25.
The young Gators checked in at No. 20 after a 5-1 conference start that has included road wins at Alabama and South Carolina – and home victories over Auburn, Kentucky and Vanderbilt.
Florida coach Billy Donovan won’t take the bait on whether this year’s team has surprised him.
"I want us to be the beat team we can be, but I don’t know where that can lead us,” Donovan said. "I feel like we’re leaning and we’ve gotten a lot better.”
Donovan and his staff love the players – the character of the kids and also the even-keel attitude they’ve displayed since the first preseason game. Donovan said this year’s group is completely different than the emotional team led by Joakim Noah, Taurean Green and Corey Brewer.
"I don’t see a lot of ups and downs,” he said. “I don’t see the emotional swings.”
He has also been impressed with their resiliency, coming back from deficits against Alabama, Auburn and even challenging at Ole Miss after trailing by 16 at one point.
"Usually, when things are going well for young guys, they don’t know to fight through it,” he said.
The Gators were realistically a coin-flip on whether they’d make the NCAA tournament this season. Now they’ve put themselves in a position to where they would need a major nose-dive in the second half of the SEC campaign.
The next few games will be pivotal: Donovan’s team will head to Arkansas, where he will face one of his best friends, first-year Razorbacks head coach John Pelphrey. Then it’s off to Tennessee.
Donovan has taken a page from his buddy, New England Patriots head man Bill Belichick, in that he does a nice job of not giving a whole lot of information and building up his team.
That’s why we turned to Gators assistant Larry Shyatt for more insight.
"If there was a team that people would have expected to be upset in November or December by anybody, people probably would have picked us because we’re so young and inexperienced,” Shyatt said.
"But our guys have been eager to listen to Billy and eager to please him. When he speaks, they’re on pins and needles,” Shyatt added. “Am I surprised? Absolutely. I don’t think anyone planned on us being at the point where we’re at.”
ACC MEDIOCRITY
I’m not sure I’ve seen the ACC this jumbled after North Carolina and Duke.
You’ve got seven teams within a 1 ½-games of each other. You can’t count out Miami (2-4), Florida State (2-5) or even Virginia (1-4) from making a run to third place in the league.
The bottom line is it’s difficult to imagine a situation where the ACC gets more than four teams this season.
Boston College currently sits in third place with a 3-2 mark, but the Eagles face North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Thursday and still have Duke on the road and UNC at home left on the slate.
Virginia Tech has the most favorable schedule left and the Hokies are 4-3 in conference play. Seth Greenberg’s team has already played Duke and has North Carolina left on the road.
TINMAN CHANGING TECH’S FORTUNES
How about the fact that Georgia Tech’s former walk-on guard Matt Causey has been the major reason why the Yellow Jackets are back in the ACC race.
Causey, who spent one season at Georgetown before playing a pair with his brother at D-2 North Georgia, has turned in consecutive 18-point performances after a 30-point output against Virginia Tech to put Georgia Tech at 3-3 in league play.
Causey’s nickname is the Tin Man because the joke is that he needs to be oiled up prior to each game because he’s basically playing on one leg. ``The other basically doesn’t have any cartilage left,” Hewitt said.
The bottom line is that Casuey’s fearless approach and willingness to take the big shot (he had 12 points in overtime against Virginia on Sunday) has rubbed off on his teammates.
"He’s making big plays and that’s one of the things this team was lacking,” Hewitt said.
RANDOM NOTES: Stopped by to see Hartford coach Dan Leibovitz the other day prior to the UConn-Louisville game and you’d never know that the even-keeled second-year head coach has arguably the biggest week of his season on tap. Hartford (4-3) takes on first-place Binghamton (6-2) next week after a matchup with Vermont (5-2) tonight. … According to Scout.com’s Evan Daniels, one of the nation’s top shooters, Oregon native Brad Tinsley, was released from his letter-of-intent by Pepperdine in the wake of Vance Walberg’s departure. Tinsley considered Utah and Cal the first time around and landed at Pepperdine largely because of his relationship with Waves assistant Mark Campbell.
Jeff Goodman is a senior college basketball writer for FOXSports.com - This is the only place you'll find continuous daily updates from the world of college basketball, so check back as often as you'd like.
