Friday, August 11, 2000
UC loses Land for season
Forward's injury hurts Cincinnati's frontcourt depth
By Mike DeCourcy
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The Cincinnati Bearcats received a blow to their plans to rebuild a depleted frontcourt when forward Eugene Land was lost for the season with a knee injury.
Land, a graduate of Roger Bacon High, has significant ligament and cartilage damage and will be operated on by by team surgeon Angelo Colosimo in Aug.18 at Unversity hospital.
Colosimo said Land “suffered a total dislocation of the knee,” with damage to the anterior cruciate, posterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments. Rehabilitation following the surgery to repair such an injury typically takes eight months to a year, Colosimo said.
UC coach Bob Huggins declined to say how Land was injured.
A 6-foot-7 power forward, Land averaged 3.2 points and 1.7 rebounds as a freshman in 1998-99. He sat out last season as a redshirt after being dismissed from the team for the first semester following his arrest on shoplifting charges. Land rejoined the Bearcats for the second part of the season and practiced well, according to Huggins.
“This takes probably our best inside scorer away,” Huggins said.
The injury to Land leaves junior college recruit Jamaal Davis, who began his career at Purdue, as the likely starter at power forward. Freshman Rod Flowers of Huntsville, Ala., is likely to find his way into the rotation, which now has four post players, including centers Donald Little and B.J. Grove. There are 10 scholarship players on the UC roster.
The Bearcats lost four seniors from their front line following the 1999-2000 season: All-American Kenyon Martin, Jermaine Tate, Pete Mickeal and Ryan Fletcher.
Because he's already used a redshirt year, Land would need a special dispensation from the NCAA in order to get four seasons of eligibility.
The organization has allowed some players to compete during a sixth year in college, although most of those have been as the result of players suffering multiple catastrophic injuries during their career.
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