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| | Saturday, November 13 | |||||
ESPN.com | ||||||
| NEW YORK -- Mark Madsen limped into the Stanford locker room late Thursday night, slumped down and tried to pull off his genuinely honest approach to life.
"I feel fine," Madsen said with his usual brimming smile. "I'm just
going to take a few days off."
He wasn't lying to the few reporters gathered around him. But he may not
have been truthful with himself. An MRI early Thursday revealed a second-degree strain of his right hamstring.
Madsen showed up for Thursday night's Coaches vs. Cancer
championship game against Iowa on crutches. He'll be on them for a few weeks
and out of the Cardinal lineup for at least a month with the earliest return
set for Dec. 21 against Mississippi State in the Pete Newell Challenge in
Oakland.
Madsen, a consensus preseason all-American and Pac-10 player of the year
candidate, will miss critical games against Auburn (Nov. 27 in the
John Wooden Classic in Anaheim, Calif.) and Georgia Tech (Dec. 11 in
Atlanta). Madsen will miss a total of five games at the minimum, and around nine
at the most if he's held out until the Cardinal's Pac-10 opener against Arizona State
on Jan. 6.
Stanford coach Mike Montgomery pulled freshman Joe Kirchofer off redshirt
status for the Cardinal's game against Iowa, a 72-58 victory. He said he told Kirchofer that he would be activated as soon as an injury occurred. Stanford's 6-8 freshman Justin Davis will continue to redshirt.
"We look at what's best for the individual and the program, not just this basketball team," Montgomery said. "This will benefit him and us in the long run."
Madsen suffered the injury during the second half of Thursday's
season-opening win over Duke. He finished with 15 points in 29 minutes but
didn't play in the five-minute overtime.
Madsen became the fifth preseason all-American to suffer a major
injury this season. Michigan State senior point guard Mateen Cleaves is out until late
December or January with a broken foot; Fresno State senior guard Courtney
Alexander is sidelined for the next few weeks with a stress fracture in his
foot; Utah forward Hanno Möttölä is out for six weeks with a partially torn
meniscus; and Syracuse kept Etan Thomas out of Friday's game against Princeton
because of an abscess in his groin.
| ALSO SEE McDonald's OT outburst sends Stanford past Duke
Opening-night shocker: No. 1 Huskies fall
Katz: Alford proves he belongs on national stage
The Weekly Word on college basketball
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