Setbacks at Missouri State

Missouri State ended the season 24-12, and 8-10 in the Valley, but they were getting almost everyone back, and prospects for a good 2010-2011 looked good.
But, so far, very early in the preseason of 2010-2011, they have taken the lead among Valley teams' injury concerns........

There was talk near the end of last season of multiple injuries, even a few to some of their key players.
One of their young players who would have been a returnee this season, Cardell McFarland, was booted last year during the season for issues.
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McFarland was averaging 5 ppg but had not play that much.

Then at the end of the season, there were nagging injuries to freshmen Michael Porter and Keith Pickens, averaging 4 ppg each......
Since then, both players have had compounded problems...
Pickens just tore his patellar tendon and has surgery, and this is the type of injury that takes a MINIMUM of 6-9 months to recover, and up to a full year if he expects to play at a high competitive level.
Michael Porter was seriously injured in a car accident in June, dislocated his hip, and has tried hard to come back....but such an injury is extremely hard to recover from in a short interval. It may be difficult to ever come back for either of these two guys and play ball again.
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But now there's word that Porter and his family have decided on leaving school and he will not be at Missouri State this fall. This has not been confirmed yet by the school.

Then Jerome Jones, another freshman who was averaging only 1.2 ppg left school and won't return, and it is said that also one of their incoming freshmen (Corey Copeland) is also rehabbing a serious injury and may not be able to contribute much.
PLUS -- recall MSU was hit hard due to terrible academic performance, and they will NOT be able to fill one of those scholarships the next couple years because of the NCAA penalty.

Then even more significant, returning senior Ryan Jehle - a 2.1 ppg backup guard, also left and is not going to return...

so -- this will leave them with only 10 scholarship players, three of which are new, incoming freshmen.
Their only returning players will be Weems, Creekmore, Leonard, Mallett, Patterson, Rhine, and Ricks.
There's really just NOT a lot of depth and/or experience there......and the season has only just begun.

If the Bears have any more injuries or attrition, they will be in serious trouble, or it's possible that with the long season ahead, they may already be in trouble......