Crater Out 6 Months

Guard Anthony Crater will be out up to 6 months as he recovers from shoulder surgery.

From Greg Auman - Senior point guard Anthony Crater will be out for at least 6 months after he undergoes surgery on his injured shoulder. Crater, the hero of the Villanova upset, injured his shoulder right before half time in the second round of the Big East Tournament while playing Cincinnati.

Crater will undergo surgery to repair cartilage and a small bone fracture in his shoulder and will miss up to 6 months, right when the Bulls begin their fall camps and exhibitions games. With only two players behind Crater, Haynes and Dority, both of which played sparingly all year long, the need for Crater is even higher now. Heath needs Crater to return to full health before the season starts if the Bulls want to have a solid guard that understands and can run the offense.

Heath is busy during this time though, still on the recruiting trail, looking to add another point guard to the roster. The Bulls are actively pursuing Sam Grooms, the top junior college guard in the country. Grooms likes USF, but has big programs like UNC and Florida also actively recruiting him. Heath also is recruiting Anthony Collins, a point guard from Houston, that has USF high on his list of possible schools.

The Bulls currently don't have an available spot on the roster at the moment for another player (Heath has already recruited two post players and only one senior, Jarrid Famous, left the team). But this is not stopping Heath from going out to recruit another player. Many believe (according to talks with Greg Auman) that Heath is planning on someone leaving the team, either one of the guards that was on the bench all year (Burwell, Dority) or the possibility of Gilchrist leaving to the NBA.

The chances are very high that someone is going to leave the program and hopefully Heath is able to bring in another guard to help add depth and talent behind Crater if he is not fully healthy at the start of the season.