injury update

[AZ Shocker]

A couple weeks ago I asked myself why not medical red-shirt McDuff? I hesitated to say anything out loud here on SN...but yeah stress fractures suck. It would absolutely give us another fantastic player this year (if he's 100% healthy)...but I wonder if the coaches and/or Markis have considered it? He obviously has a future as a pro player post Wichita St.

Is a reoccurence to the injury too high risk for his future? Or is a potential Final Four/National Championship run more important to him? Hard question in my mind if I were in his shoes. But I ain't 20 years old....

[WuDrWu]

Markis wanted to go pro last season more than Landry. Just keep that in mind.

[WSUwatcher]

This may be the craziest idea I've seen in a while. Unless he suffers some sort of reinjury, the chances that McDuffie would even consider redshirting have to be below zero.

[Shockm]

How about we win this year? This is our best year to go all the way and he's almost ready.

[giskard]

I don't think McDuffie could do a medical redshirt since he will be healthy with so much time to go in the season. Since he hasn't appeared in any games though, a regular redshirt would be possible. He will have missed 11 games (not counting exhibition) if he makes it back for Florida Gulf Coast.

With the potential that this year's team has though, why take it? If you are him, do you really trade sitting out the rest of the season while your teammates accomplish great things? Plus, do you miss out on the opportunity to play in WSU's first American Conference season? And if he waits until next year, there will be some rust to knock off.

I would imagine that when he is looking toward playing again, he is thinking more about playing in games in March than November or December. If you want to play in March, you play this year.

[Kel Varnsen]

Redshirting your second best player in a year where you can compete for a national title would be, to put it very lightly, ill-advised.

[ShockCrazy]

Redshirting McDuffie is certifiable. One it serves ZERO purpose. McDuffie will not be here 5 years. Nor should he(People tend to forget he is incredibly young which increases his upside for the draft, for reference he is all of two weeks older than Midtgaard and only 3 months older than Rod Brown). Second I think most people still undersell how exceptional of a defender McDuffie is. He might be behind Zach(I'm not so certain he is) but it's not by much. By almost every metric(admittedly defensive metrics can be unreliable, but we are talking all of them here) he is an ELITE defender.

[OregonShocker]

Redshirting your second best player in a year where you can compete for a national title would be, to put it very lightly, ill-advised.

My only quibble (minor) is second best. Let's just say "...one of the two best players..."

[BOBB]

Redshirting McDuffie is certifiable. One it serves ZERO purpose. McDuffie will not be here 5 years. Nor should he(People tend to forget he is incredibly young which increases his upside for the draft, for reference he is all of two weeks older than Midtgaard and only 3 months older than Rod Brown). Second I think most people still undersell how exceptional of a defender McDuffie is. He might be behind Zach(I'm not so certain he is) but it's not by much. By almost every metric(admittedly defensive metrics can be unreliable, but we are talking all of them here) he is an ELITE defender.

Preach.

Also you indirectly addressed why redshirting AM makes no sense. Kid needs to progress here while he can and get back to Europe to make some money. Adding another year to his path doesn't get him anywhere. His time will come.

[Heinro]

My only quibble (minor) is second best. Let's just say "...one of the two best players..."

I am not sure I would even go that far. Maybe "one of our three best players." Shaq has been beast like and dominate like no one else on our team, so long as he can keep himself on the floor.

[Bluzrover]

My only quibble (minor) is second best. Let's just say "...one of the two best players..."

I'm glad to see others here that are starting to realize our best player started the season and scored 30 points in our last game. Now, Markis may come out, guns blazing and back up everything all the prognosticators were saying about him, and if that happens, then I see a National Championship in our future. But until he gets a chance to knock off the rust and show what he's capable of, I'm reserving title of Best Player for one Landry Shamet. Either way, this team is going to be just that much more formidable when Markis is back out on the court.

[Stickboy46]

I'm glad to see others here that are starting to realize our best player started the season and scored 30 points in our last game. Now, Markis may come out, guns blazing and back up everything all the prognosticators were saying about him, and if that happens, then I see a National Championship in our future. But until he gets a chance to knock off the rust and show what he's capable of, I'm reserving title of Best Player for one Landry Shamet. Either way, this team is going to be just that much more formidable when Markis is back out on the court.

The best player part normally comes from the fact that STATISTICALLY he was our best returning player.

[Dan]

MM is not a guy that will take over a game. He just brings consistent play almost every time out. Between him, Landry and Shaq, we have a legit 3 headed monster.

[Cdizzle]

I'm glad to see others here that are starting to realize our best player started the season and scored 30 points in our last game. Now, Markis may come out, guns blazing and back up everything all the prognosticators were saying about him, and if that happens, then I see a National Championship in our future. But until he gets a chance to knock off the rust and show what he's capable of, I'm reserving title of Best Player for one Landry Shamet. Either way, this team is going to be just that much more formidable when Markis is back out on the court.

I wouldn't go this far. I love Shamet, but there is currently a pretty wide gap between what he and McDuffie provide defensively. As I often have to remind folks, there is more to the game than scoring points. McDuffie is also a size/talent match-up problem for most teams in the country.

We are just super lucky that we don't have to pick between them, but actually get to watch them play together. Hopefully soon.

[wufan]

MM also improves everyone else by creating space for the rest of the team to operate. The opponent can’t help off of Markis without creating a huge risk.

[Aargh]

MM could have the "Baker effect" - fresh legs in March. March will be the time McDuffie will have knocked the rust off, regained strength in his legs, but he will have saved several months of wear and tear, and bumps and bruises on his legs.

If the Shox can get by OU, then they are likely to get through the non-con season with only 1 loss, while "resting" the leading scorer and rebounder from the year before. That's quite a luxury. Marshall might even be able to use the term "Release the Kraken".

[1972Shocker]

I think (hope) Markis will pretty much the rust knocked off by the end of Janaury. However, your point is still valid.

[ShockCrazy]

Preach.

Also you indirectly addressed why redshirting AM makes no sense. Kid needs to progress here while he can and get back to Europe to make some money. Adding another year to his path doesn't get him anywhere. His time will come.

I think that's a fair point. If AM is what he could be and we want him to be, he won't be here long whether it's back to Europe or here in the league. If he is around for that 5th year with the recruits we now consistently bring in he may well have been usurped anyways.