Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Ogilvy Missing Practice Because of Concussion

Here's the Tennessean story.

Ogilvy had a collision with Steve Tchiengang and it's sidelined him a bit. In addition, his heel has flared up slightly, not as bad as last year, according to Ogilvy, but enough to cause some concern.

One key to this season is keeping Ogilvy on the floor as long as possible. He is the key to this team realizing its potential. While Big Fez can provide an adequate substitute when Ogilvy is injured, he isn't polished enough to assume a starting role.

It's obviously very early in practice and we're nowhere near the season, but anything to do with Ogilvy's health is important news for Commodore basketball fans.

3 comments:

vandygold28 said...

an injury prone goof ball who lacks strength and the ability to play against big SEC centers.

he always looks like he's getting murdered when he drives one in or goes for a rebound. which does get him to the foul line but come on. this guy is no such thing as glue for this team. he helps certainly and i give him credit. he gets fouled a lot and scores 17 points a game, 10 from the foul line.

he will continue to get hurt, his heel will continue to hurt and he will play through his injuries like he did last year giving the team mediocre help to succeed.

but, with a year under tinsley, beal shooting better, and jenkins on the floor he'll get plenty of outside help to pull off double teams down low.

therefore, we will do better than last year. i think big fez will be just fine. he played good last year as a red shirt frosh and will have the experience and will be even bigger. that guy isn't afraid of anyone and can block some shots. i expect him to play a larger role this year. he might even have a few games where he looks much better than ogilvy.

Anything but Gatorade said...

Ogilvy is injury prone for sure, and he doesn't seem to play as well against more physical defenses.

This heel flareup doesn't bode well for the Dores. Ogilvy might not be a beast in the paint, but the team plays a lot worse when he's not on the floor, for whatever reason. I actually am hoping that Festus works out because there's only so much ball reversal you can run before the shot clock runs out.

Stanimal said...

Wow. I couldn't disagree more with you Vandygold. For one, I think you underestimate Ogilvy's contributions. For another, I think you overestimate Fez's ability at this point.

I could go through the stats but I'm too lazy and I'm pretty sure they support what I want to say. The fact of the matter is that when Ogilvy is clicking, this team performs at a much higher level than when he's not. Scoring 17 ppg, even if it's from the free throw line, is of tremendous value.

Furthermore, while all of us are amazed at Taylor and Tinsley's ability and Beal has certainly played well, there has been zero evidence to show that any of those guys is ready to take the mantle of team workhorse. Tinsley and Taylor played very well as freshman. Until Taylor is averaging 20-10 he isn't the guy that makes this team run. He's a valuable support piece, but he isn't the guy who has to put this team on his shoulders. Tinsley is much the same. Until Tinsley is providing the big buckets and averaging more than 15 points a game, he isn't the glue either.

As for Big Fez, he averaged less than 2 points a game last year. Sure he's disruptive in the post on defense, but he's also completely raw, rebounding included. Say what you want about Ogilvy, but he's a polished Center who was STILL a sophomore last year.

Plus the reason he looked like he was getting murdered is because for crying out loud he WAS getting murdered. If there's no one to pop the outside shot what reason does anyone have to challenge on the wings?

As for JJ, you're talking about a freshman with a lot of hype. Once again, performance is the name of the game.

Like it or not, until someone steps up and shows something different, AJ is the engine that runs this team. And if he isn't playing well there hasn't been anyone who has proven definitively that they can pick up his slack. Not to say that someone can't, just that no one has.