Duke's Zoubek out 8-10 weeks
It would be a bigger deal if this were, say, October, but Duke 7-footer Brian Zoubek will miss the start of the Blue Devils' preseason conditioning program after suffering a broken bone in his right foot in a pickup game on Monday.
The sophomore-to-be had surgery on Tuesday and is out for eight to 10 weeks.
Last month, coach Mike Krzyzewski said -- justifiably -- that Zoubek's growth in the offseason would be an important factor in the Devils' 2007-08 season. Zoubek is up 20 pounds to 266, and he'll now have to work to maintain the muscle mass he gained.
He averaged 7.3 minutes a game last year and will need to double that and become accordingly productive in order to fill the Josh McRoberts void.
This time of the year is like Thursday at a golf tournament. You don't win anything now, but you can lose plenty.