Notre Dame senior forward Bonzie Colson, the leading scorer for the Irish this season, is expected to miss eight weeks of action after suffering a left foot fracture in practice earlier this week. He will undergo surgery soon, putting a timeline for his return right around the end of the regular season or, perhaps, in the postseason.
"We are all feeling for Bonzie right now, who was performing as well as any player in the country" said Notre Dame coach Mike Brey. "We need to embrace this challenge. This program has lost key guys before and we figured out a way to earn an NCAA bid."
Colson was a CBS Sports preseason First Team All-American entering the season who is averaging 21.4 points per game thus far -- good for second best in the ACC behind Duke's Marvin Bagley III. Colson is also second in the ACC in steals per game (2.0) and third in the league in rebounds (10.4).
Winners of three-straight including Saturday's ACC opener vs. Georgia Tech, Notre Dame (11-3) has a tough road ahead without its star beginning on Wednesday as the team welcomes NC State into town before a two-game road stretch against Syracuse and Georgia Tech. If Colson is to miss all eight weeks of his prognosis exactly, he would miss 16 regular season games before returning on March 3 for ND's regular season finale against Virginia.
In Colson's absence, point guard Matt Farrell and guard T.J. Gibbs are likely to soak up larger offensive roles in Notre Dame's uber-efficient system. Replacing his production at power forward will be difficult, however, but freshman DJ Harvey will likely be the recipient of an uptick in playing time.
