Auburn Basketball Injury Updates

Bruce Pearl met with the media today and updated the Tigers' injury situation and, well, this is how I felt when I read it:

Tahj Shamsid-Deen is, indeed, done for the season and will need more surgery for his injured shoulder. You have to figure this could be the death-knell for his career. Tahj is only a junior, so he could come back next season, but with how easily these injuries come, now, it seems like he's always going to be at risk of another injury. Some of those injuries came from just slight contact, too.

You really hate to hear this. Tahj is an electric player who is so much fun to watch on the court. He also provides such a big spark to the defense for Auburn. Auburn has struggled mightily without him throughout the season. I really hope he's able to recover fully and come back next season with no more injury troubles.

But wait, there's more!

TJ Dunans' knee injury is a bit worse than previously stated. He won't return until later in the season and it's possible that he's not going to play again this season at all.

Auburn's struggles over the last few weeks can be traced back to a number of things. Players are playing out of position, our young players are still raw, and then there just hasn't been any depth because of these injuries and the on-going Danjel Purifoy eligibility situation. I've given up on Purifoy being eligible at this rate. Sure, it could still happen, but since the new semester has started, it seems like we would know something by now.

So, the outlook is rather bleak for the rest of this season. The future, however, is not. There is still a lot of talent on this team. A lot of them will be back next season. They will also be joined by another excellent recruiting class. There's another great recruiting class coming behind them. It's a bumpy road right now, but there's so much to look forward to in the future.