The Morning Dish – Thursday, November 6th
More Shuffling: The dust hasn’t settled after Conference Shuffle Tuesday, as now the Mountain West is officially eyeing expansion, though no timetable has been set. Probable expansion candidates include TCU, whose football team remained undefeated last night against Louisville, as well as WAC schools Boise State, Fresno State, and Hawai’i. Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson told several papers that he was awaiting encouragement from the eight MWC school presidents to pursue expansion, and that he hadn’t considered expansion until the recent activity with the ACC, Big East, and C-USA has piqued his interest. Scheduling for the conference would be improved with at least one new team for football, and two new teams for basketball. Expanding with the right new additions may even land the conference an automatic bid in a BCS bowl. All of this leads to the question, “Why did the WAC split apart in 1998, anyway?”. At this rate, 12 of the schools could be back in the same conference, albeit under the aegis of the Mountain West.
Wildcat Injury: Villanova has lost junior forward Jason Fraser to another foot problem. Fraser, one of only seven Wildcats eligible to dress for the opener against Temple because of the phone card scandal, suffered a stress fracture in his left heel in practice. Previously, Fraser had missed seven games last season due to a stress fracture in a different part of the same foot, and also had surgery on both knees this summer to repair ligament damage. While no timetable has been set for his return, the school stated that he would be re-evaluated in three weeks.
Thumbs Down: North Carolina sophomore forward David Noel will be out at least six weeks after injuring his thumb in practice Tuesday. Noel, who averaged 6 points and 3.5 boards in 35 games last season as a freshman, tore ligaments in his right thumb, was expected to be a major force for the Tar Heels this season.
Tiger Beat: Auburn junior point guard Lewis Monroe will be out indefinitely after breaking a bone in his foot during practice yesterday. Monroe fractured a bone in his left foot while driving the lane during a scrimmage, did not collide with anyone or roll the foot. An Auburn official indicated that Monroe would undergo surgery on the fracture in Birmingham on Friday. He averaged 6.2 points and 3.3 assists per game last season.
Cowboy Away: Wyoming head coach Steve McClain announced that true freshman center Jarrod Boswell will redshirt this season in order to fully heal from a knee injury. Boswell, from Lakeside, California, injured his knee after falling down a flight of steps last month, and tore the meniscus in his left knee. Boswell underwent surgery Monday. While the recovery time is only 3-4 weeks, McClain indicated that Boswell had already missed too much practice, and that the Cowboys are fairly deep at center, even with the graduation of Uche Nsonwu last season.
Post Pattern: First Stanford running back Evan Moore committed to play both football and basketball for the Cardinal. Now wideout Mark Bradford is following suit. Bradford, a freshman whose 18 catches this season rank second on the team, with 301 yards and 1 touchdown, will join Mike Montgomery’s squad once football has ended. Bradford is a 6-2 guard from Los Angeles, and is known for his defense. Moore, a 6-7 reserve fullback who has six catches for 71 yards this season, will be a power forward when playing hoops.
