Monday, April 14, 2008

Tennessee's J.P. Prince Out 3-4 Months

Tennessee guard J.P. Prince had arthroscopic reconstructive surgery on his left shoulder but should recover by the time practice starts in October.  Prince averaged 8 PPG, 3.2 RPG, and 1.8 APG in 2007-08.  Prince transfered from Arizona prior to this seasons, his sophomore year, and saw his minutes go up by 13 per game.  Prince's most notable games this year were his 23 PTS against Xavier, and when he scored 13 PTS and gathered 8 REB in defeating, than the number one Memphis Tigers.  Also, Prince was voted the SEC's Sixth Man of the Year by the coaches.

This injury shouldn't be that much of a concern for Bruce Pearl and Tennessee.  Prince was a very important player for the Volunteers this season, however, his surgery occurred less than one week after the college basketball season ended.  Yeah, you want Prince out there with his teammates getting ready for next year but this would be the ideal time for an injury.  Tennessee will be a preseason top 25 team if Tyler Smith returns and Prince has a successful surgery.  Lets not forget that Tennessee should be welcoming five star recruit, shooting guard Scotty Hopson in the 2008-09 season.
    

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think prince is the most mistake-prone player in the country. it seemed every time he touched the ball he turned it over... Pearl should be celebrating

College Hoops Info said...

I have to disagree. Prince did a great job facilitating the Tennessee offense when he came of the bench and I think he will be even better next year. He should start seeing more minutes which will allow him to produce a little more than Prince did this season.