Tyler Zeller suffered a broken wrist on Nov. 18 on this play against Kentucky. He has returned to practice but might sit out the rest of the season as a redshirt. UNC freshman Tyler Zeller's future will be determined this week, Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said Monday.
Zeller has been out since breaking his left wrist against Kentucky on Nov. 18. The 7-foot forward returned to practice last week and could return to help the Heels, who have five regular-season games left. If he does, he would lose the opportunity to redshirt.
"Is he willing to sacrifice a whole year for five or six games?" Williams said, "We'll make a decision this week."
Williams said he would leave the decision up to Zeller, who scored 20 points in the first two games of the season, both starts. Williams said he and Zeller had a conference call with Zeller's parents on Saturday to talk about the decision.
"He has had five or six practices. He hasn't played basketball in 12 weeks," Williams said. "Can he come back and be effective?"
UNC's rotation has been reduced to eight players with the injury to senior wing Marcus Ginyard and the suspension of sophomore forward Will Graves.
Zeller, a McDonald's All-American, would give the Tar Heels another big body to relieve starters Tyler Hansbrough and Deon Thompson. Freshman forward Ed Davis is the only reserve in the frontcourt rotation, although Williams has been able to give Danny Green minutes at forward.
UNC hosts N.C. State on Wednesday and travels to Maryland on Saturday.
-- J.P. Giglio
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4 comments:
In all likelihood, he wouldn't have stayed 4 years if he didn't get hurt this year anyways so it won't be like he'll lose a year if he comes back, and I think he'd really regret it if he didn't give himself the opportunity to contribute to a team that has such a good chance of winning a national title. I say if he's able to give productive minutes, he should come back.
There is nothing to indicate that Zeller would not stay 4 years . . where did you hear that? If he was the second coming of Tyler Hansbough I could see, but he's nothing close to that just the little bit of time I saw him play. They can handle this year without him. We'll need him 2010 AT (After Tyler).
I disagree. If you look at the way UNC has been aggressively recruiting the last few years it almost appears as if they're anticipating some early departures.
Just take a glance at their commitments for the next two years and you'll see that it's going to be hard for some good players to get on the court.
I think it's going to be real tough for him to sit out what could be his best chance at winning a national title. Nothing is given in the future. Yes there are only 5 more regular season games, but what about postseason? I guarantee he wants his first taste of the ACC and NCAA tournament.
hope he will come back soon_
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