Bruin Bites: Colorado* Basketball Edition

I put an asterisk next to Colorado because this is a hurting team.  Since I wrote the preview about how they lost their best player, Spencer Dinwiddie, they have now lost another scholarship forward.

The Bruins will face a Buffaloes team that has been hit hard by injuries this week.

Point guard and leading scorer Spencer Dinwiddie and reserve forward Tre'Shaun Fletcher are both out with knee injuries. Dinwiddie, who averages 14 points per game, is lost for the season.

For the first time in years the Bruins are the team with depth and more players then they can put in a rotation.  Which brings up this story on Wannah Bail (which also mentions Noah Allen):

Bail underwent knee surgery in June and was not cleared to practice until November, weeks after his new teammates. He has been playing catch-up ever since.

"Right now, I'm on a winning team," Bail said. "It's an honor to play with these guys. All I can do is bust my butt in practice."

Noah Allen, a 6-6 freshman, is in a similar situation after returning from an injury two weeks ago. Allen was challenging for a rotation spot when he suffered three fractured bones in his face during UCLA's second game.

"They're doing a great job in practice," Alford said. "It's not a glamorous role by any means."

"There have been a couple dunks in practice," Wear said, shaking his head. "He's [Wannah] the best athlete on the team. Him or Zach LaVine."

High praise indeed and a nice situation to be in when compared to the the last couple seasons where at this point we had lost a couple players.  While Tyler Lamb and Brendan Lane have looked good for their new schools at times, arguably the most talented transfer still has issues at his new school

Georgetown center Joshua Smith will miss his second straight game Saturday as he tends to an academic issue, a school official said Friday.

Smith did not travel with the Hoyas to Indianapolis for Saturday's game against Butler.

Smith also missed Georgetown's previous game, a 70-52 loss at Providence on Wednesday.

This is the second straight game Smith has missed for this reason. He didn't go to the Providence game, either.

Smith is causing problems for Georgetown.  At times dominant, at times a drain.

On a happier note on the current team, Kyle Anderson has been named to the Sporting News mid-season All American First team. The only "good" news out of Dinwiddie being hurt and Oregon's collaspse is Kyle has a great chance to be the PAC 12 MVP this season.  Argubably no player is more important for his team or dominant across the board.

Of course, Kyle must lead UCLA to a win on the road over an injury depleted Colorado team and keep playing at a high level to make that happen.

Go Bruins.