Early Wednesday morning, Alabama head coach Avery Johnson went on Inside the Locker Room with Wimp and Barry Sanderson to discuss some updates on his squad.
You can listen to the full interview below via Tide 102.9’s Soundcloud page:
Braxton Key, the Tide’s leading scorer last season, missed Monday night’s exhibition against Alabama-Huntsville with a torn meniscus, while Riley Norris has been out for a few weeks with a hip injury sustained during practice after the Tide’s Canadian tour.
Key is expected to miss around four weeks, while Norris is expected back by around Thanksgiving.
Collin Sexton has been involved in the FBI’s probe into college basketball recruiting methods related to former Auburn assistant coach Chuck Person and former Alabama director of basketball operations Kobie Baker.
Sexton’s eligibility was not in question until Monday, when Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne announced that the star freshman is currently ineligible.
Johnson said this morning that he hopes to have an update on Sexton’s eligibility today, so that he might be able to play in Friday’s season opener against Memphis in Annapolis.
Analysis
So, what does all of this mean?
On the injury front, getting Key back in four weeks is a very pleasant and unexpected surprise, given the nature of his injury.
There are 2 ways to treat a meniscus injury, which is to shave down the torn portion of the muscle or fully repair the muscle. Given the 4-week timeline, it sounds like Key opted for the shave, which generally carries a shorter timeline, but leaves open risk of re-injury.
Famously, Ron Artest had the same procedure done while he was with the Los Angeles Lakers, and he was back on the court in 12 days. That’s a bit superhuman, but Key can definitely expect to be back in 4 weeks at full strength.
Norris’ injury sounds a little more severe, considering that he has been out of practice for around a month now, but the timing couldn’t have been much more ideal.
Getting Norris back will be crucial to the defensive identity of the team that led the SEC in defensive PPG allowed. His presence as the “glue guy” is very important to the Tide’s development as a team, so his return will be awaited earnestly.
With Sexton, it’s hard to get a read on this whole situation.
His status is certainly up in the air with the NCAA and FBI, and they operate on their own schedules when it comes to cases like this, and rightfully so.
Don’t be surprised if Sexton is out for an extended period of time as the case wraps up, but given the particular circumstances of the case, it is possible that Sexton could be found innocent in a very timely manner.
If the FBI can determine that Sexton had no involvement in any improper doings, he should be cleared very quickly. However, that’s not so simple with the grand scale of everything that’s involved in this case.
I’d view Johnson’s optimism for a quick response cautiously, but optimistically, because it’s not as simple as it might seem.