Ugh. Just...ugh.
Iowa Head Basketball Coach Fran McCaffery announced today that junior Matt Gatens has suffered a hand injury and will be out indefinitely. Gatens tore a tendon in his left, non-shooting hand, Tuesday during practice. The shooting guard will have surgery Thursday and is expected to make a full recovery.
That, my friends, is not good. Gatens is the leading returning scorer for Iowa and one of only two projected upperclassmen in the starting five, to say nothing of the offseason reports that he had dropped 15 pounds and was playing better than he ever had. He's the unquestioned leader of this team, and a prolonged absence (and you don't just throw around "will be out indefinitely" in an injury report) would flush any even remotely rosy projections down the crapper. Sell your 2010-11 Iowa basketball stock now, or just set it on fire to keep you warm. It's going to be a cold winter.