Oregon's 7-foot Bol Bol suffered a season-ending foot injury
Oregon star Bol Bol is officially done for the season.
According to a report from Matt Prehm of 247Sports, the star freshman center has a stress fracture in his left foot. He’s missed the last four games Oregon has played, and will now miss the rest of the year.
Bol confirmed the news on Twitter on Thursday afternoon.
Playing for my dream school under my favorite Coach Altman has been the Best part of my life and sadly it has come to end sooner than I would Like but thank you for all those who rocking with me & all Oregon fans 💚💛thank you #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/qYnjKO0p6x
— Bol (@bolmanutebol) January 3, 2019
Bol is the 7-foot-2 son of former NBA legend Manute Bol, and he’s part of the best recruiting class to sign with Oregon in years. Bol himself was ranked No. 4 in the country, the highest-ranked recruit to ever sign with Oregon. He’s played nine games with the Ducks, and leads the team in scoring at 21 points per game, rebounds at 9.6 per game and blocks at 2.7 per game. He’s also shooting 56.1 percent from the field and 52 percent from three-point range. There’s even more: he has four double-doubles in those nine games, and two came in his very first game.
Now that Bol is done for the year, that’s a huge blow to Oregon’s season. With such a talented recruiting class, the team had dreams of making the NCAA tournament. In the preseason, a media vote picked the Ducks as the favorite to win the Pac-12. They’re currently sitting at 9-4 so there’s definitely still a chance, but Bol’s absence makes it much less likely.
Bol is likely done at Oregon forever
After just nine games, Bol’s time as an Oregon Duck is probably over. He’s just a freshman, but is widely expected that won’t play another game in an Oregon uniform and will enter the NBA draft in June.
Bol hasn’t been with the team for nearly two weeks, and may not even return to the team while he rehabs. The top NBA prospect is planning to rehab and train outside of Oregon’s system as he prepares for the draft, 247Sports reported. With Bol’s height and ability (not to mention the NBA pedigree of the Bol name), he could be a top five pick, and he could even go in the top three.
But those projections were made before Bol reportedly got hurt. Foot injuries aren’t something NBA teams take lightly, especially for a guy as large as Bol. With so little known about the injury (the location, the severity) it’s hard to say what will happen to Bol’s draft stock. But it’s hard to imagine it would help.
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