“You see that shot? It’s the nicest shot around,” men’s basketball coach Bill Carmody said Thursday afternoon as he watched Vedran Vukusic take jumpers at practice.
“And he can’t play.”
The Northwestern coach seemed pained during his sophomore’s shootaround. Vukusic’s reaggravated shoulder injury has benched him for the Wildcats’ 8 p.m. home opener tonight against Maryland-Eastern Shore, and Carmody said he doesn’t know when the forward will return.
Vukusic’s right shoulder was routinely dislodged from its socket last year. During the offseason he underwent surgery and five months of daily rehab to strengthen it.
But in NU’s second exhibition, on Nov. 13, Vukusic went up for an offensive rebound 10 minutes into the second half, heard a pop and came down clutching his right side.
He said he felt fine after the game, but the results of an MRI, X-rays and bone scans revealed a more serious injury.
“It’s not good,” Carmody said. “We don’t know (when he’ll be back). The doctors are going to get together and maybe, by the middle of next week, we’ll know for sure. But he’s going to miss the first few weeks, at least.”
Last season, Vukusic wore a brace to curb the problem, then at the top of the joint, and made 47 percent of his three-pointers in 25 games. But this time his shoulder left the socket at the bottom, where a brace can’t help, Carmody said.
Carmody isn’t sugar-coating the loss.
“He’s our best shooter and our best passer,” he said. “He creates mismatch problems because he’s 6-foot-8 and plays outside. The guys across our league had trouble figuring out who’s guarding him, and now they don’t have that problem.”
Carmody’s reference to Big Ten opponents could be ominous. The Cats don’t start conference play for nearly seven weeks, when they play Iowa at home on Jan. 8.
Vukusic’s departure adds to frontcourt injury woes that already include senior Aaron Jennings’ shins and freshman Ivan Tolic’s knee.
“You just hope somebody comes along,” Carmody said. “Davor (Duvancic) has been playing pretty well, but we go from a team with a little depth to a team with almost no depth.”
After playing 18 minutes in the second half of the Nov. 13 game, Jennings said his shin splints felt fine. But his legs have since gotten worse.
“He’s not good,” Carmody said. “He ran full court (this week) for maybe 15 minutes, and he was very, very sore. He certainly can’t play more than half the game.”
If Jennings plays tonight, he’ll probably start, Carmody said. NU’s starting five will be freshman T.J. Parker and junior Jitim Young in the backcourt, seniors Winston Blake and Jason Burke up front and either Jennings or Duvancic at center.
Carmody said the first players to pull off the warm-up gear would be Duvancic, if Jennings starts, and freshman Jimmy Maley, who will play on the perimeter. Maley, like Parker, will be appearing in his first regular-season game.
“I’m just going to try to see what Winston and Jason are doing, so I can replace them if they get tired,” Maley said. “I get nervous before every game. Even in high school, when I knew I was going to win, I still got nervous.”
Like NU, Maryland-Eastern Shore won both of its exhibitions, although Carmody said the Fighting Hawks had an easier time of it.
“They push the ball up the court,” Carmody said. “They’re sort of loosey-goosey on offense, and when they’re going good, it’s tough.”
NU’s frontcourt injuries have Carmody worried about a game against a team that went 11-18 and was ranked 293th in the RPI last year.
“Who’s going to rebound for us?” Carmody said. “Who’s going to score for us? Vedran was sort of like an enabler — he helped other people to be better.”
