RU began the year with six players 6'6" tall or better. Because of injuries, they went into the game against Purdue with one healthy player over 6'4" tall and one limited to no more than 20 minutes per game per the medical staff with four not suited up. Seven total scholarship players suited up against Purdue with one of them, the only post player, limited to 20 minutes per game because of his bad knee and essentially glued to the floor. One of the reasons they were more competitive against Indiana was that they had one more player available and didn't have to play a guard against a six-foot 8 inch 235 pound type player every single minute of the game, but rather only for most of the game. They were never going to be good this year, but they would have improved from last year. It was so bad that when there was a foul out at the end of the game there were no more walkons to put in and the coach had to reinsert a starter. Only one big man is practicing now so he doesn't even have anyone to play against in practice. I have been following college basketball a long time and I have never before seen a team lose not just it's leading scorer and rebounder, but it's entire front line rotation due to injury like this.
