Crap.
Via the postgame reports, Bobby Frasor has been declared lost for the season following a freakish knee injury during the second half against Nevada. If you saw the play, Frasor got his knee twisted in a weird way before crumpling to the floor clutching it in obvious pain. After Roy and trainer Marc Davis attended to him on the court, Frasor actually got up and limped off leading me to believe it was not as bad as it looked. It turns out to be a tear of the ACL and according to UNC officials will require surgery.
All I can say is that this is really messed up on so many levels. There is no one on this UNC team I believe has put his head down and done his part more so than Frasor. He went from being a starter his freshman season to losing his job to Lawson and battling injury most of last season. And there was never a sign he was unhappy with the situation. Heading into this season, the roles were are defined and I was hopeful Frasor would find his niche as a shooter and defensive specialist at either guard spot if needed. I think we saw some of that. Frasor played a steady point backing up Lawson and handled running the offense against BYU and Ohio St. as UNC won both of those games. In tonight's game prior to the injury, Frasor hit a three and had scored five points in 10 minutes. Unfortunately for Frasor, he seems a bit snake bitten much the same way Steve Hale was in his days at UNC.
The team impact is clear. Lawson has no safety net now, neither does Ellington for that matter in terms of defensive effort. As far as the point goes, this is by no means a slight on Quentin Thomas, but Frasor was the steady hand, tended to be more efficient as well as cautious running the offense and was a better defender. Thomas needs to step up and fill the role. It also hurts UNC's depth, at least the quality of it.
Thoughts and prayers for Bobby and high hopes he can rehab to be a major factor on next year's team.