Burgess may play in Seattle
Gonzaga’s David Burgess has started practicing again after being sidelined since the start of fall camp with a partially torn MCL in his right knee and could be available for emergency spot duty Saturday when the Bulldogs (9-4) take on 24th-ranked Nevada (10-1) in Seattle’s KeyArena.
The injury news wasn’t as good, however, for the Zags’ Micah Downs, who had hoped to recover from a broken bone in his foot in time to play in this weekend’s Battle in Seattle.
Downs, a 6-foot-8 shooting guard who transferred from Kansas last December, had his injured foot X-rayed again Wednesday but, according to GU officials, did not receive medical clearance to play against Nevada.
Burgess, a 6-10 sophomore center who became eligible earlier this month after transferring from BYU during the middle of the 2005-06 season, practiced for 20 minutes Tuesday and Wednesday and said he experienced no pain in his knee.
“But my game condition is still a ways away,” added the former prep standout from Irvine, Calif. “I could maybe do 1 or 2 minutes here or there (on Saturday), but I haven’t physically gone through all our plays, so I’m not expecting to play.
“We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Coach Mark Few, whose Bulldogs have lost three of their last four games, did not sound like he is planning to rush either Burgess or Downs into action, saying he expects to battle Nevada with the same “Iron Eight” players who have logged most of the minutes for the Zags this winter.
“David’s only going about 20 minutes a day,” Few said, “and Micah still hasn’t practiced with us.”
Few added, however, that he expects Downs, a McDonald’s All-American during his senior year at Juanita High School in Kirkland, Wash., to contribute immediately once he is cleared to play.
“It won’t take him long to get in shape,” he said of Downs, who also became eligible earlier this month. “He came out and ran a sub-5-minute mile the last time he got off crutches (following arthroscopic ankle surgery) this summer.
“It won’t be a cardiovascular adjustment with him at all, but he’s not used to banging, he’s not used to getting hit, he’s not used to screening – any of that stuff. So that will be his biggest adjustment.”
In other injury-related developments, freshman forward Theo Davis (shoulder surgery) said he is still “two or three weeks away” from returning to full practices and sophomore guard Larry Gurganious (back) remains sidelined indefinitely with a stress reaction in a lower vertebrae.
Gurganious is expected to redshirt and Davis said he will consider doing the same if his comeback is delayed more than a couple of weeks.