Not only did a foot injury cost Malcolm Brogdon the stretch run of his freshman season at Virginia but all of last season, too, after he was slow to recover from offseason surgery. The Greater Atlanta Christian School graduate is back from a medical redshirt and ready to be a key contributor.
His 6.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game in 2011-12 don’t tell enough of a story of what Brogdon did for Virginia as a freshman, a sixth man of sorts on the Cavaliers’ perimeter. This season he’ll get much more responsibility.
With the graduation of point guard Jontel Evans, Brogdon has a chance to get the bulk of the ballhandling duties. He was a “combo” guard as a freshman. This season he could become the Cavaliers’ primary point guard.
“It’s kind of unusual for a first-year guy to come in and show how tough he is and being able to rebound for his size and how physical he played,” Virginia senior preseason All-ACC shooting guard Joe Harris said of Brogdon’s first season. “All that stuff is the same, and I really think he’s improved his ballhandling. We joke with other guys, ‘You need to go to the Malcolm Brogdon school of ballhandling.’”
Time missed because of the injury and playing on the scout team last season gave Brogdon time to work on those skills.
Blossomgame's return: Before Louisville's Kevin Ware suffered a compound fracture to become the heart-wrenching story of last season's NCAA tournament, Jaron Blossomgame suffered a similar fate.
The Chattahoochee High graduate had just finished his senior high school season and was one of Clemson’s heralded incoming freshmen when he suffered a compound leg fracture going up for a dunk during a workout. He had to undergo a second surgery in June after his recovery stalled, but he’s back with the Tigers and practicing this fall.
“He’s not quite 100 percent, but he’s healthy,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. “He’s practicing. He doesn’t practice three days in a row — right now we’re still being a little cautious with him — but he should be good by the beginning of the season.”
Brownell said Blossomgame wouldn’t acknowledge it, but he has mental hurdles to work through coming back from such a gruesome injury.
“He still sometimes has a limp,” Brownell said. “I mean he even runs a little gimpy at times. He’s reasonably explosive still, but I think in the back of your mind you have to always wonder just a little bit.”
Last man standing: Miami used a seven-man rotation during last season's run to its first ACC title, and six of those players left. The only returning Hurricane with starting experience? Rion Brown of Hinesville.
The teammate he’ll probably miss the most is All-ACC point guard Shane Larkin, who was the 18th pick in the NBA draft.
“Being a shooter, a scorer, there’s nothing like having a great point guard that can get you the ball exactly where you need it,” Brown said. “It takes some of the pressure off you. I had a lot of guys go to help off me to (defend) Shane, and he always hit me (with passes).”
Brown, primarily a 3-point shooting specialist last season, looks to become a more all-around offensive contributor this season for a young Miami team. He’s focused on using offensive rebounds and transition baskets to improve his 6.4 scoring average from last season.
“I figure if I can get two or three easy baskets a game, get about six points off that, next thing you know I’m at 14, 15 points a game,” Brown said.
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