by Barca Blog
Starting forward Andre Walker missed his first game of the season Saturday after injuring his shoulder during Friday's practice. Kevin Stallings updated the media on Walker's status following Vanderbilt's 77-69 victory over LSU.
“He got banged at the end of practice yesterday," Stallings said. "During the last drill, Steve (Tchiengang) ran into his shoulder. Andre said that it hurt, but it wasn’t a big deal and he finished practice. At game time, he couldn’t lift his arm up to parallel. He had quite a bit of soreness, but said it’s a little looser now than it was before the game.
"I don't think the doctors or trainers think that it’s anything long-term or serious. It's probably just a day or two here to where he's going to have to get the range of motion back.”
Without their "glue guy," the Commodores struggled for much of the day against the Tigers' zone defense. It was just another reminder of how valuable Walker is to the success of this team.
"He's such a passer and facilitator," Stallings added. "He gets it inside the zone and can get it to the rim and convert. He's just another really good ballhandler. He's a very valuable weapon against the zone."
Vanderbilt was also without the services of John Jenkins for the second consecutive game. Jenkins is still recovering from a stomach illness.
The Commodores hope to have both guys back in action for next Thursday's trip to Ole Miss.
It was disappointing that the TV broadcasters didn't notice how important Andre Walker's ballhandling was against Tennessee. On one occasion, they made a big deal when Brad Tinsley waited a long time in backcourt for Jermaine Beal to come back and take the pass to dribble upcourt. Apparently, they hadn't seen that Tinsley had already dribbled and was avoiding a double-dribble. They commented that Vandy always wants Beal to bring the ball up, when in fact Walker brought it up much of the game. The broadcasters would probably blame their vantage point, but as someone who used to sit on the first row as an undergrad, the view from below court level isn't that bad.
ReplyDeleteFor the LSU game, I turned off the TV audio and listened to the audio over the Internet, but from what the TV broadcasters said about the starting line-ups and from a visual in the second half, it appeared they didn't know who Andre Walker was until someone alerted them during half-time. At the beginning of the game, the entire focus was on the fact that John Jenkins would not play. Do the TV broadcasters who called the Tennessee and LSU games do any preparation for the games?
Two requests: (1) keep telling the media how valuable Andre Walker is, as I'm sure you already do; and (2) figure out a way to sync the Internet radio broadcasts with the TV video, so that Joe Fisher's excellent call won't be a full possession behind the video.
Good comment, Barry. All valid points. I think we should keep quiet about Walker since he has been our secret weapon most of the year. Like the Dore's (cue Andy Katz Weekly Watch commentary last week saying Tennessee was "clearly second behind UK" in the SEC), Walker is underrated in the media which works to our advantage going into the NCAA tourney. Computer ratings do not use perception to judge one teams accomplishments. So, until the announcers start to pay attention, I like the Rodney Dangerfield role and will continue to root for Mizzou, Zona, St. Mary's, Cincy and Illinois to make a run for the tourney and improve our SOS. Go Dores.
ReplyDeleteOne of those anouncers said that the reason Tchiengang was starting in place of Walker was because Jenkins was out and they needed the scoring.... They were really bad they didn't have a clue about either teams.....What ever happened to Jefferson Pilot
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