By Mark Bennett
The sight of Marcus Howard pulling up for
a jumpshot in Wednesday night's practice was a welcomed one.
Indiana State basketball team's 6-foot-3,
185-pound sophomore guard had been sidelined since the start
of practices last month because of a stress fracture in his right
foot. Tuesday, the team doctor cleared Howard to remove a protective
boot he'd been wearing for six weeks.
Starting with Wednesday's practice, he'll
be allowed to participate in half-court running and shooting
drills every other day, ISU athletic trainer Dave Ralston said.
Then on Tuesday, Howard will be re-evaluated by doctors.
Howard won't play in Friday's 7:05 p.m. exhibition
game against Pella Windows, a team that includes former Creighton
guard Ryan Sears. Howard also missed last Saturday's 57-51 double-overtime
exhibition loss to Indianapolis.
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He could possibly play in the Sycamores' Nov.
18 opener at Illinois-Chicago. Most injuries of this sort take
two weeks to completely heal after the protective boot is taken
off an athlete. The Illinois-Chicago game will be 12 days after
Howard's boot came off. Ralston lists him as questionable for
that night.
The former Elgin (Ill.) High School standout
figures prominently in Coach Royce Waltman's plans for the upcoming
season. He averaged 10.4 points per game during Indiana State's
impressive five-game postseason run last season, when the Sycamores
won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title as the fifth
seed and then beat Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament, before losing
to Gonzaga.
"With him, I think we can be a pretty
good defensive team. I think he's the best defender in the league,"
Waltman said Wednesday. "Without him, everybody gets bumped
up to a better player to guard, and then I think we become a
very average defensive team."
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