North Carolina State University Athletics
Status of Sherrill and Collins Still Unknown
3/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 17, 2004
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. - In a perfect world, NC State would be able to go into Friday's first-round NCAA Tournament game against Louisiana-Lafayette with all of its weapons in place. But given the Wolfpack's injury situation, that perfect world scenario may not exist when tip-off time rolls around at 12:15 in Orlando. With guard Scooter Sherrill (ankle) and center Jordan Collins (knee) still recovering from injuries, the Pack will travel to central Florida on Wednesday evening accompanied by a cloud of uncertainty.
"We're banged up," NC State head coach Herb Sendek said on Wednesday. "We're hoping for the best with Scooter and Jordan, but it's difficult to predict right now with any certainty. Neither one has done anything; we're going to try to get them involved a little more today. It's just hard to gauge how they're going to respond. Both guys have injuries that if we weren't playing a game this week, they wouldn't be doing anything. They're going to try to put themselves in a position to help us to the best of their ability."
Just being able to spell some of the other more healthy regulars for a minute or two would give the Pack a boost. During last week's ACC Tournament, Sendek had very few options to call on when he looked down his bench, especially after Collins was injured in the second half of NC State's quarterfinal win over Florida State. During the Wolfpack's two game stint in Greensboro, starters Julius Hodge, Engin Atsur and Marcus Melvin average better than 37 minutes on the court. Melvin played all 40 minutes in Saturday night's loss to Maryland, while Hodge logged 39 against FSU. Atsur, a freshman guard, recorded 39 minutes in Saturday's game as well.
Sherrill hasn't played or practice since tearing a muscle in his ankle early in the second half of NC State's home game against North Carolina back on the 29th of February. Last week, Sherrill vowed to be ready for this weekend's NCAA games.
"That's his great desire," Sendek said. "We'll see how he's able to do. We're going to try to get him involved to some degree [in Wednesday's practice]. What he's able to do remains to be seen. He's going on now his third week of not doing anything, so if he has any hope of playing in the game on Friday, he needs to be able to do something today or tomorrow. You just don't go for almost three weeks of cold turkey and then go out and play in an NCAA Tournament game."
Although Collins, a junior, was able to do some shooting and light individual work on Tuesday, Sendek said that wasn't necessarily an indication that he was ahead of Sherrill in his rehabilitation.
Since tumbling under the south basket late last month, Sherrill has been racing against time in hopes of getting back on the court before his career comes to an end. Working almost around the clock with Director of Sports Medicine Charlie Rozanski, the senior co-captain has been going the extra-mile in his rehab.
"We need to get him involved if we can because we were very thinned out in the ACC Tournament," Sendek said. "I think that was evident, especially the second game we played. The other factor is, he may not be able to play the same role or the amount of minutes he was accustomed to before he was hurt, but he's a senior who has meant a lot to our program. If he's able to play, our team is better off by having him at least sometime."
