Say it Ain't Toe

The most famous toe in college basketball belongs to Duke freshman point guard, Kyrie Irving.  After a freak injury to ligaments in his toe during last weekend's game against Butler, Irving could be out for the entire season. If that is the case, it will be a shame.

Will we see Irving back on the court this year?
(AP Photos)

Irving has been head and shoulders the best freshman in this young college basketball season, and even entered the conversation for National Player of the Year after the first month of games. Even if you are a Duke hater, which I believe is approximately 92% of college basketball fans, you have to be a bit upset (ok, you don't have to, but...). Bottom line, Irving can flat out play. He can get to the rim and finish, he can knock down 3s, and he can distribute to one of the many weapons he has surrounding him on Duke's roster.

If he stayed healthy all year, he would have been in talks to be the #1 pick in the NBA draft next summer. If they shut him down for the rest of the year, let's hope he comes back for his sophomore year so we can get to enjoy his game at the college level. At that point, he'll have another heralded freshman playing along side of him, Austin Rivers (Doc Rivers' son).

As a team, Duke will come back to the rest of the pack a bit if they lose Irving - but still a top 5 team.  They are very deep at the guard position, with Nolan Smith and Andre Dawkins.  We'll also get to see a lot more of Seth Curry, and see if he can live up to the hype his brother, Stephen, left behind.

So as a fan, here's the dilemma: Irving comes back at close to 100%, we get to watch a super talent and Duke is far and away the best team in the land.  On the other hand, without Irving in the lineup, the top of the college basketball world just got a whole lot more interesting.