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I find myself saying more and more often that the Syracuse Orange basketball program has been relatively lucky in terms of injuries in recent years. Arinze Onuaku-aside, we don't usually have too many critical injuries that take key players out for sustained periods.
The reason I'm saying it more and more, however, is because it seems like the injuries are finally starting to pile up. DaJuan Coleman is done for the year. Baye Keita spent a bunch of games on the shelf. And now Jerami Grant seems to have some issues with his back strong enough to have kept him out of the second half last night.
Given our severe lack of front-court depth and Boeheim's disdain for giving freshmen big men meaningful minutes, it's not painting a pretty picture.
However, Keita is back and it sounds like Grant won't be missing any significant time. He expects to be back when the Orange travel to play the Virginia Cavaliers this Saturday.
"I guess when I stopped playing, it just hurt more,'' Grant said. "I couldn't get it back going again. I couldn't keep playing without hurting the team on the defensive end."
"It was hurting against Duke,'' Grant said. "I'm not sure exactly when I hurt it, but it's been hurting for probably over a week now.''
"It's fine,'' Grant said. "It's a little sore. I'm not sure what it is, but I'll definitely be playing next game.''
Of course, it's one thing for the player to say he'll be back and another thing for the coach to say it. I'll wait until Boeheim says it's happening before I feel comfortable.
