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Illinois Basketball: Coleman-Lands Injury Shouldn't Affect Illini Season
Illinois Fighting Illini

Illinois Basketball: Coleman-Lands Injury Shouldn't Affect Illini Season

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

All Illinois basketball fans know what tremendous injury problems we have had in the last five years.

As an Illinois Fighting Illini fan, it was a struggle to see so many players get injured over the years.  And now it looks like that trend will continue.

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It was announced a few days ago that starting shooting guard Jalen Coleman-Lands broke his right hand during a workout.

When I first heard the news I thought, oh man here we go again.  But, then I continued to read and it looks like it will only be eight weeks he will be out.

JCL is going to be a big part of the upcoming season so how does this affect the Illini?

Well, looking at the Illinois schedule it looks like JCL could be back for the first game of the season.  This would be the Southeast Missouri State game on November 11.

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    I could actually see JCL sitting out the first two or three games to make sure everything with the hand is okay before coming back to action.

    I would guess the first game back for JCL will be in the NIT Season Tip-Off on November 18 against Detroit.

    So, if JCL did sit out the first two or three games who will be replacing him in the starting lineup?

    There would be a few options I could see immediately for the Illini.

    Aaron Jordan starting is a possibility for Illinois.  Last season he averaged 3.4 points per game.  He didn’t get a ton of playing time last season but has a chance at getting more action this year.

    I think the most likely possibility is Malcolm Hill shifting over to the shooting guard role and then moving DJ Williams into the small forward role.

    Illinois has some options in case JCL has to miss a few games.  The silver lining to this injury is that the Illini have an easy first three games of the season.

    While this injury does bring back bad memories, I don’t think Illinois fans have to worry too much.  JCL will get healthy and We Will Win.

    This article originally appeared on

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