Zags Catch Snags: Two Injured for Bulldogs

The Gonzaga Bulldogs will have to play without two of their best players, Josh Heytvelt and Steven Gray, for over a month. Gray and Heytvelt will be sidelined following their recent surgeries. Heytvelt has a nagging foot injury and Gray has a broken wrist. Both will have to take four to six weeks off the court to recover, maybe more. There might have been some worse timing for the injuries, but this sure ranks high anyways. The Zags are just beginning their season, just implementing their game plans, and they assumed that two of their main components would be involved. Now Gonzaga will have to scramble for answers elsewhere. Gray and Heytvelt were two of the program’s most heralded recruits, and two big reasons that the Bulldogs were ranked so highly entering into the 2008 NCAA basketball season.

To make matters worse, Gonzaga has an especially tough schedule in the beginning of the season, playing plenty of non-conference foes right off the bat. The end of the year will be filled with games against WCC teams, many of which are not expected to be very strong this season. A bad start will not cripple Gonzaga’s chance of getting a WCC tournament win and the subsequent NCAA Tournament bid, but it will hurt their seedings and rankings. Gonzaga will have to roll with the punches and change their strategy a bit, but many experts still feel this team will play well under the circumstances.

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Permalink - Posted in General on November 13, 2007 - Post a comment