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C.J. McCollum: “I broke my foot” [VIDEO]

Pick 6 Best Players

FILE - Lehigh’s C.J. McCollum (3) shoots over Pittsburgh’s Talib Zanna in the second half of their NCAA college basketball game in the NIT Season Tip-Off tournament, in this Nov. 13, 2012 file photo taken in Pittsburgh. As the college basketball season nears its midpoint, the player of year honor appears to be up for grabs with roughly two dozen players who could be considered the best in the country.C.J. McCollum is among a Pick 6 of players having outstanding seasons so far. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

AP

C.J. McCollum has missed only one game in his storied career to date. The first -- but not likely to be the last -- was a December 20th game at North Texas, which his team won without him. He made today’s start against VCU and made it partway through the first half before he attempted to drive through the center of the Havoc defense and left the court favoring his left leg. The Mountain Hawks lost the game 59-55, but the team, and McCollum, may have lost a good deal more than that.

TV cameras captured McCollum on the bench in the second half, nursing his heavily bandaged left foot. With tears streaming down his cheeks, McCollum said something to the player sitting next to him. I’m not an expert lip reader, but the TV commentators agreed that it looked every bit like he said “I broke my foot.”

If that is the case, the injury will derail one of the greatest senior seasons the NCAA has ever seen. McCollum was leading the nation in scoring, bringing a 25.7 points per game average into Richmond.

The ramifications may be even worse than the loss of a senior season. More than 30 professional scouts were in Virginia to evaluate McCollum, who is listed by DraftExpress as the 12th-best NBA prospect in their top 100 list. He’s the top player listed as a point guard. McCollum is known as a dynamite scorer, so a chance to prove his ballhandling abilities in front of scouts would have likely moved him up a few draft boards. Going lame before he really had his shot at breaking open “Havoc” is a bitter pill to swallow. If the injury ends his season, it’s devastating.

An official doctor’s report will shed more light on the severity of McCollum’s injury, but if it is, indeed a broken foot that ends his senior season, there may be much more than this year’s campaign at risk.