The RoundHouse | 9/27/2017 5:39:00 PM

by Paul Suellentrop

The pain in his left foot didn't keep Wichita State's Markis McDuffie from practicing basketball the past two weeks. The more it nagged at him, however, the more he worried that he was experiencing the early stages of a stress fracture.
 
McDuffie's instincts proved correct. He underwent an MRI on Friday, revealing a small stress fracture in the navicular bone. On Tuesday, a CT scan provided a better look at the foot and confirmed the results of the MRI.
 
On Wednesday, he met with an orthopedic surgeon to review the scan and discuss recovery. He returned to Charles Koch Arena on crutches with the foot in a black cast and settled in for another 20-minute bone stimulation treatment.
 
"It didn't affect my play, but it became concerning," he said. "It's not any big cracks. It's like a little line, hard to see. They said it's an early stress fracture, so that's a good thing."
 
The injury, along the top of his foot, will not require surgery. McDuffie expects to spend six weeks on crutches, followed by roughly six weeks of rehab to get him back on the court. That timeline puts his return in mid-December, around nine or 10 games into the season.
 
"Tough blow for him, for us," Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said. "He had a very good fall. He had a very good summer."
 
McDuffie, a junior forward, enters the season with high expectations. He earned runner-up honors for Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year in 2017 after leading the Shockers in scoring (11.5 points) and rebounds (5.7). He considered his NBA Draft potential last spring and worked out for Boston, Brooklyn, Toronto and the Los Angeles Clippers.
 
"He's going to get better," Marshall said. "He's going to have to do what the doctors tell him. Six weeks, non-weight bearing. Then six more weeks where he's going to gradually progress."
 
If there is a spot on the roster where Wichita State is equipped to survive an injury, it's in the front-court. Seniors Zach Brown and Rashard Kelly are capable of filling McDuffie's minutes. Sophomore C.J. Keyser and freshman Rod Brown will get a look.
 
"We still have plenty of depth in the front-court," Marshall said.
 
Brown came to Wichita State open to red-shirting. That potential remains, Marshall said.
 
"I told him when he came in here 'Don't come in here thinking you're going to redshirt. Come in here thinking you're going to be a starter,'" Marshall said. "I reiterated that to him the other day before a workout. We'll still see – he's got to be able to help us."
 
McDuffie, from Paterson, N.J., is relieved to take these measures now, before the injury worsens.
 
"This is more 'You can play, but the more you play you're making it worse,'" he said. "I'm definitely going to be good once I get off these crutches. I'm not in any pain."
 
McDuffie underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee last August. He said he suspects the toll from that injury and a busy year that included the NBA workouts and elite camps this summer caught up with him.
 
"I think it just aggravated my whole body," he said. "It just happened over time, me loving the game of basketball and playing as much as I can. Maybe I just need some time to slow my body down. Unfortunately, it's a bad time."