Injury falloutt's been a while since Tom Crean has considered going outside the program to add a walk-on, but injuries have finally forced his hand.
With Trevor Mbakwe out for the season and Scott Christopherson out for six to eight weeks - both due to knee surgery - Crean is looking for a way to up the number of available bodies for practice. As things stand now MU is down to 11 scholarship players and 12 overall with senior walk-on Tommy Brice.
It's very unlikely Crean will be able to add a frontcourt player, but he could find a guard or two to get the Golden Eagles through their current pinch.
Following their game against Utah Valley State on Monday night, Crean will switch up his team's practice regimen somewhat as it begins preparations in earnest for the Maui Invitational.
"We'll change it a little bit anyways because of Maui. But we're going to have to add a walk-on or two," said Crean. "So we'll have tryouts when we come back from Maui; we've got some guys that we're thinking about now already that we've seen to add, because I think that's important in practice.
"In talking to (Florida coach) Billy Donovan last week, one of the things that I think helped them is he felt really good about the walk-ons that they had being able to play and help and practice, which saves some wear and tear on his players. We're not at that point yet. But I think that's something that, if we can find the right kind of walk-ons, we'll bring him in."
Crean held tryouts a few times in the previous few years but chose not to add anyone to the roster. It appears as though that may change this time.
As for Christopherson, Crean said the possibility the freshman guard could redshirt is one he's keeping wide open at this point.
"He wants to come back and play," said Crean. "There's the general timeline of how long he'll be out; there's no guarantee it'll be that way. If he gets back for the Big East season, if he gets back right before the Big East season, that's still a bunch of games. We'll play that by ear and see how he progresses, see what he looks like when he comes back, and make a decision."
Unlike Mbakwe, Christopherson was not in attendance for the IUPUI game Saturday, as he was recuperating from surgery earlier in the day.
"He had surgery (Saturday) morning and he was back with his family in the hotel, staying with them," said Crean. "They didn't want to bring him to the game tonight; they were worried about swelling and things of that nature. We put Trevor at the end. My whole thing for those guys now is that they do enough that the doctors say, ‘OK, you guys can get on that plane and go to Maui,' because we don't want them to miss that."
http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2007/11/11/injury-fallout.aspx
