Xavier's most experienced player, junior guard Dedrick Finn, sprained his left knee in practice Wednesday and will likely miss Xavier's two exhibition games, if not more.

Redshirt freshman forward Boubacar Coly was lost for the season Tuesday when he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament while landing after a layup.

Finn sprained his knee when another player fell on him during a drill. He'll be out at least two-and-a-half to three weeks.

Finn was suspended for three weeks after violating team rules in early October and had just returned to practice Monday. His injury, combined with his suspension, hurts Xavier's goal of putting veteran players into leadership positions.

Miller said he was hopeful Finn would be healthy for the Nov. 19 opener against Oakland.

Without him, the early season point guard duties transfer to Churchill Odia, Stanley Burrell or Dupree Lucas. Odia and Burrell are freshmen, and Lucas is a sophomore, but each is in his first year of playing Division I basketball. Odia and Lucas were each recruited to play point guard; Burrell is projected as a shooting guard.

"Churchill, Stanley and Dupree have a great opportunity to take advantage of," Miller said. "They've worked very hard. We've invested a lot of time in those guys, with or without Dedrick. Realize that Dedrick has only been here for two days."

"So it's pretty much going to stay status quo how it was before," Miller added.

Coly will rehabilitate his knee for the next two weeks before undergoing surgery. He had two knee surgeries last year to repair a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee.

"He's obviously very discouraged," Miller said. "It's one of those unfortunate things where you say, 'Why him of all people?' "

Miller said he doesn't know if Coly will be able to play again for Xavier.

"Hopefully Boubacar will be able to come back," Miller said. "He certainly has some obstacles in front of him. I think he understands that as well. It's been very hard for him to come back after missing a year and having two surgeries.

"I think he was just beginning to feel comfortable. Once he established being comfortable, then he improved and this happens. I feel really bad for him."

Former Xavier player Robert Barker underwent multiple knee surgeries the past few years and was ultimately unable to play at the Division I level. He gave up an athletic scholarship after last season for an academic scholarship at Xavier, which created a scholarship opening for the Musketeers.

Finn and Coly joined freshman Josh Duncan on Xavier's injured list. Duncan could be back as soon as next week after suffering a strained Achilles' heel last week in practice.

E-mail ddow@enquirer.com

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