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Kasey Cunningham Out for Season/Kyle Austin Considering Transferring

From LATimes.com:

Kasey Cunningham was just starting to show his potential as a rebounder and defender after a 22-month injury layoff when the USC redshirt freshman again tore a knee ligament in practice Wednesday.

Now the 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward faces surgery that will sideline him for the remainder of the season and another lengthy rehabilitation program. Cunningham had torn the same anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during his senior year of high school and spent all of last season recuperating.

Tough week for SC basketball with the news on Kasey's injury and Kyle Austin contacting Coach Floyd to talk about transferring.  I have all the sympathy in the world for Kasey because I've had knee surgery in the past and having to rehabilitate physically/mentally is extremely frustrating; I can't imagine having to do it twice, which is what Kasey faces.

Kasey Cunningham Reinjures Surgically Repaired Left Knee

From LATimes.com:

USC redshirt freshman forward Kasey Cunningham suffered what the Trojans feared was a serious injury during practice Wednesday when he twisted his surgically repaired left knee.

The 6-foot-7, 225-pound Cunningham underwent an MRI exam on the same knee that he injured midway through his senior year at Albuquerque Cibola High when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament. Cunningham sat out last season while recuperating.

"We're worried," Coach Tim Floyd said. "He's got a knee injury that appears to be substantial. Hopefully, it's not."

Truly awful news.  Kasey would have been important down the stretch coming off the bench.  Hopefully there's no tear, but based on the quotes from Coach Floyd, I'm fearing the worst.

USC vs. USD Game Preview

USC vs. USD - Game Preview

When:  Thursday, Nov. 22 @ 9:00 PM (PST)
Where:  The Arena at the Anaheim Convention Center (Anaheim, CA)
Watch:  ESPN2

USD is coming off a 5 point loss at home to their rival San Diego State and are currently 2-2 overall.  The Toreros (matadors) are led by Junior forward, Gyno Pomare (6'7, 220), and Junior guard, Brandon Johnson (6'0, 195).  Gyno is the player to look out for, he plays a physical style of ball offensively/defensively and leads the team in points and rebounds.  USD only has two scorers that average over 10 pts, so the game plan will likely center around getting the ball out of Gyno's hands and forcing the other starting 4 to pick up the slack. Four of the 5 starters returned from last season and the team is led by long-time Gonzaga assistant, Bill Grier, so you can expect a well-coached squad.

On the Trojans side, we've built some momentum coming off victories against the Citadel and South Carolina.  We currently have 4 players averaging over 10 points and 2 over 20, so you have to like the balance in scoring.  You can feel the team hitting their stride and you have to believe with a nationally televised game, they will come out with a lot of intensity.  Coach Floyd might go with the guard-oriented line-up from last week to start the game, but if I had to guess, I think Kasey will replace Angelo to take pressure off of Taj defensively and on the boards.  Earlier in the week, Coach Floyd was quoted saying he doesn't want to play Davon yet because he's still behind in practices and doesn't want to give "entitlement minutes" to a player that hasn't earned it, so we might have to wait till after the tournament to see the debut of the fab freshman.  Personally, I'd like to see him get 10-15 minutes per game this week to prepare him for the upcoming monster 3 of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Memphis.  It's against those teams that you'd expect to see foul trouble early and it would be a waste to see such a talented player like Davon sit on the bench or come into the game with no experience.  But going back to the game at hand, I think USD will keep the game competitive, but won't ever truly threaten to pull off the upset. 

Prediction:  W by 12+

USC vs. South Carolina Review

Final Score:  USC 85, South Carolina 75
Current Record:  2-1
Next Up:  San Diego (Anaheim Classic) - 11/23

Once again, the game wasn't televised in CA so I'm basing this review off reports/stats:

Positives

• What a road trip for Daniel Hackett!  He finished tonight's game with 22 points on 6 of 9 shooting, grabbed 10 boards, and dished out 10 assists for a triple-double.

• After 3 games, O.J. is averaging 24 pts, 7 reb, 4.5 assists, and 2 steals per game; he's also shooting 83% from the free-throw line.

• Both teams went with small line-ups and decided to play a perimeter game and the stats overall were pretty dead-even, but the difference in the game was our teamwork and shooting.  South Carolina only had 8 assists compared to our 20 and shot 37.7% from the field to our 48.3%.  The team accomplished this on the road in front of a hostile near sell-out crowd, you have to tip your hat to the grit of this team.

Negatives

• Kasey Cunningham left the game early with an injury.  Let's hope he didn't reinjure his knee. 

• Taj Gibson continues to struggle and no one has stepped up as a consistent starter down low.  A lot of us expected Davon to be far ahead of where he's at right now and some thought Wilkinson might be able to fill the void after his impressive showing in the intrasquad game, but we're 3 games in and still lack a true post player to help Taj.  Luckily we haven't played a team with a dominant PF/C yet, but someone is going to have to step up real soon since the Pac-10 is filled with talented big men. 

The team will play in the Anaheim Classic this week starting with the University of San Diego on Thursday.  Here's the info if you're interested in attending the game. 

USC vs. The Citadel Review

Final Score:  USC 74, The Citadel 47
Current Record:  1-1
Next Up:  @ South Carolina

Didn't have a chance to watch the game so I can't go in-depth but here's a breakdown of the game based on reports/stats:

Positives

• The clear positive from this game was the successful return of Daniel Hackett.  The loss to Mercer really made it apparent how valuable Daniel is to this team; we all saw it in the Texas game last season, when Daniel stepped up on both sides of the ball and really got the team going with his fiery approach.  Based on the reports I've read, Daniel looked quicker and more confident in tonight's game than he's ever been.

• Another positive is Kasey Cunningham getting the start. Kasey may be a wild-card this season if he can bounce back from his ACL injury and live up to his billing as a tenacious defender/rebounder.  Tonight he finished 3-4 for 6 points and more importantly grabbed 10 boards in 22 minutes of play.  Adding Kasey to the starting line-up would be a boost over Cromwell/Wilkinson even though he's undersized (6-7 220lb), due to his athleticism and tenacity.

Negatives

• Turnovers continue to be an issue, as we committed 20 today. 

• Our free-throw shooting only improved marginally at 61.5%. 

As I mentioned in the preview, the team we played tonight only had two upperclassmen on their entire roster, so I wouldn't take too much stock in tonight's victory.  This weekend's match-up against South Carolina will be a tough one; the Gamecocks beat the same team we played tonight by 61 points earlier in the week.

Kasey Cunningham Making His Way Back to the Court

From LATimes.com:

Expected to be a significant contributor out of Albuquerque Cibola High, he was sidelined the entire season by a torn knee ligament that healed slower than expected. He participated in some practice drills toward the end of the season while wearing a bulky knee brace but never played in a game.

Cunningham shed the brace earlier this summer and resumed full-contact drills this week as the Trojans began preparations for a series of exhibition games over Labor Day weekend in Mazatlan, Mexico.

..."It's great to be back out there with the guys," Cunningham said. "Last year was hard to watch, but it was fun to watch too. It's just great to be back on a good team."

The 6-foot-7, 220-pound redshirt freshman described his knee as at least 95% healed and says he tries "to keep it out of my head. I might think about it every once in a while, but I try not to play tentative at all."

Kasey is an intriguing piece to the puzzle.  If he can fully heal and develop quickly into the rebounding specialist he once was, he has a chance of getting PT right away since we don't have a true rebounder outside of Taj Gibson.  With that said, Kasey will likely use the '07-'08 season to adjust to the college game, so the thought of PT might be a bit presumptuous.  His knee has healed slowly so I can't see Coach Floyd trying to rush the process at the tail-end.