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Auburn Basketball and Softball Suffer Injuries

Two Auburn teams suffer injuries to key players

Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

SOFTBALL

First, there's the softball injuries. These aren't AS bad simply because of the amount of time between now and the start of the regular season. Shortstops Haley Fagan and Kelsey Bogaards both suffered knee injuries during the fall sessions. Bogaards is a senior and was Fagan's backup. She was the starter in 2014.

Head Coach Clint Myers wouldn't specify the injuries, but it's clear they're both going to miss some time. Since he does say that he expects them back early in the season, I would imagine that the injuries, while serious, aren't on the level of an ACL tear. That's just a pure guess on my part.

BASKETBALL

In "why does this keep happening to him?" department, Tahj Shamsid-Deen separated a shoulder at practice and is out for a month. Deen missed a good bit of the end of last season due to needing shoulder surgery. Tahj plays a lot bigger than his listed size, and was one of Auburn's better defenders last season. I really hate to see him have to miss more time for another shoulder injury.

TJ Lang's injury appears to be worse, though. He is out indefinitely with an MCL Sprain. Both injuries were suffered at practice on Tuesday.

It's looking like there's going to be a lot of pressure on the new guys to really contribute at this Friday night's exhibition. With a little more time to go before the start of the actual season, Shamsid-Deen's time missed won't be as bad as if the injury were suffered right when the season begins. It's still a big blow for him and the team, though.

Auburn is still waiting on word about Danjel Purifoy's status. From what I understand via message board discussions, the question lies with his ACT score and it sits with the ACT Board, so it's not a case of Auburn waiting on the NCAA. Given that he led the team in scoring at their last scrimmage, I hope he gets the official ok, soon!