Jawanza Poland Out 4-6 Weeks With Back Injury

Coach Stan Heath and the USF basketball team received some bad news as Junior G Jawanza Poland will be out for the next 4-6 weeks due to a lingering back injury. According to Greg Auman at the St. Petersburg Times, Poland's injury stems from a big dunk Jawanza had last year against Rutgers, and it was never able to get back to 100% over the offseason.

Poland's injury leaves an already small squad even thinner. USF will only have 9 healthy scholarship players for most of the non-conference schedule, and only leaves Victor Rudd, Hugh Robertson, and Shaun Noriega for the two wing spots. With Rudd helping out at the 4 as well, Coach Heath might be forced to use Senior walk-on Alberto Damour for a few minutes a game while Poland recovers from his injury.

With Big East Media Days starting tomorrow in New York City, I'm sure we will hear more about the injury and his assessment of the rest of the team.