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MARSHALL SPORTS
Herd's Humphrey out for at least a month
Marshall forward Markel Humphrey, center, celebrates the Herd's overtime win with teammates Robbie Jackson, left, and Chris Lutz on the court Tuesday, November 20, 2007, as Marshall defeated East Tennesse State University 84-83. Humphrey's runner gave the Herd the win with under a minute remaining.
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HUNTINGTON -- Marshall University men's basketball player Markel Humphrey is probably sidelined for at least one month because of another injury.
Humphrey, an All-Conference USA third team selection in each of the past two seasons, has a stress fracture in his left foot. The 6-foot-6, 230-pound senior from Atlanta, Ga., played the majority of last season with a stress fracture in his right heel. He had recovered from a broken wrist suffered Aug. 4 in a pickup game.
He will be out from four to six weeks, head coach Donnie Jones said.
"We're fortunate to be able to identify this small stress fracture early," Jones said. "Even with his limited ability at this point, we plan on keeping Markel in tune with his teammates in order to get him prepared for the start of the season."
Marshall begins practice Friday. Humphrey isn't expected to play in a Nov. 1 exhibition game, but could return for the Nov. 16 season opener against WVU Tech.
The injury won't require surgery, but Humphrey will be forced to wear a protective boot during the recovery period.
Humphrey averaged 13.1 points and 5.6 rebounds last season. He is a 1,000-point career scorer.
Meanwhile, Marshall was picked for a sixth-place finish in 12-team C-USA in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches. The coaches only predicted the top six places.
"There is a lot of parity in the league this season and we appreciate the coaches giving us respect enough to be picked in the top half of the conference," said Jones, a second-year head coach who guided the Thundering Herd to a tie for sixth place and a 16-14 record in 2007-08.
Memphis was a unanimous choice to win the C-USA regular-season championship. The Tigers were 38-2 last season, won the C-USA season and tournament titles and lost to Kansas in the national championship game.
UAB was selected second followed by Tulsa, UTEP and Southern Miss.
Memphis seniors Robert Dozier and Antonio Anderson have won 104 games with the Tigers and are closing in on 1,000 career points.
UAB placed second behind Memphis last season and played in the NIT. The Blazers have the preseason player of the year, senior guard Robert Vaden.
Tulsa lost to Memphis in the conference tournament finals and won the inaugural College Basketball Invitational.
Vaden led the preseason all-conference team selections that included Dozier, UTEP guard Stefon Jackson, Tulsa center Jerome Jordan and UCF guard Jermaine Taylor.
C -USA Media Day is Thursday in Memphis.
