Nik Popovic Out Indefinitely With Back Injury
Boston College's basketball season just went from bad to worse today as reports have surfaced that big man Nik Popovic will be sidelined indefinitely with a back injury
Popovic, who entered his name into the NBA Draft last year, and then withdrew, was averaging 11.8 points per game, along with 5.9 rebounds. In a year where Boston College has struggled to find a scoring threat he has been the guy the Eagles have looked to for consistent scoring, which has happened sporadically.
Now with their star center injured, the Eagles will have to look to Luka Kraljevic to fill the role if they want to go with a standard five man rotation. Or most likely the Eagles could go small ball and start Jared and Jarius Hamilton (who can play the five if needed), along with Steffon Mitchell, Derryck Thornton and Jay Heath.
Whatever the case, this is a huge loss for Boston College who currently sit at 4-5. This team isn't very deep as constituted, and if they want to pull of some wins they need their star center back. This is a team that has struggled mightily on the boards, and losing Popovic just made that area of their game even weaker which is a scary sign for things to come.
The Eagles are going to need Popovic healthy for ACC play as they start to play teams that are even more talented than some of the teams they have already played. Boston College faces off against 6-2 Notre Dame on Saturday in South Bend.
