With the Texas Tech basketball team one day away from appearing in the Sweet 16 against No. 10 seed Arkansas, members of the team and head coach Grant McCasland met with the media on Wednesday. Of course, it didn't take long for the issue of starting guard Chance McMillian's injury to come up.
Fortunately, according to both the player and his coach, it appears he is closer to being able to play against the Razorbacks.
"I'm getting better day-by-day," McMillian said. "Been in the training room, doing a lot of pool workouts and breathing workouts because I strained my oblique pretty bad. But my goal is to play tomorrow."
McMillian has not played since appearing in the first half of Texas Tech's quarterfinal victory over Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament on March 13. It was an injury that he sustained toward the end of the regular season, and he aggravated it against Baylor, forcing him to miss the second half of that 76-74 win.
Since then, McMillian has been sidelined, forcing freshman guard Christian Anderson to step into the starting lineup. While Anderson has been serviceable in that role, he hasn't been as good as McMillian has been, especially when McMillian has been healthy.
Fortunately, it appears that McMillian is making strides. In Wednesday's open practice, he was seen hoisting shots with his teammates and moving with no noticeable limitations.
That was a sign that he has improved because the last time we saw him on the court, he could hardly stand up straight due to the pain of his injury. However, McCasland didn't go as far as saying McMillian will play for certain against Arkansas.
"That's one thing about this difficulty that he's going through," McCasland said, "I mean, he's preparing to play every game even if he can't. And at this point we're hopeful that he will play sooner rather than later.
"But it's honestly out of my hands, as you know. But I do believe we're getting close. And before it was hard for me to say. Now I honestly do think we're getting close.
"As to his availability, it's going to be a game-time decision. But he's been remarkably resilient and he's been as good as a guy on the bench as he was as a player, because of his belief in what we're doing."
One factor that McMillian's return would help would be the Red Raiders' depth. Without McMillian on the court, Tech has been forced to play just seven players in its regular rotation. That means that Kevin Overton is the only perimeter option on the bench.
As a result, the starting guards have logged heavy minutes. In round one of the NCAA Tournament, Tech's three starting guards each played at least 34 minutes. What's more, starting point guard Elijah Hawkins played all 40 minutes. Then, in round two, all three of the starting guards played 35 minutes or more, with Hawkins again leading the team by playing 38.
While fatigue shouldn't be as much of a factor in the Sweet 16, given that the teams have had several days off, it could be an issue if Tech were to advance to the Elite Eight on Saturday. Therefore, even if McMillian isn't able to be the type of player that we've come to expect him to be, just having another guard to work into the rotation could be a huge asset.
It seems as if McMillian will try to give it a go in the Sweet 16. He grew up in San Francisco and went to high school in Northern California, making this weekend's games in San Fran a homecoming. Thus, he might feel even more motivated to get back onto the floor.
"I went to school up until high school in San Francisco," he said, "so I have a lot of people from San Francisco expecting to come to the game. Feels good to be back home because this is my first game in Northern California, too, so I have a lot of people excited to watch this."
Here's hoping that McMillian not only gets to return to the lineup in front of his loved ones but that he does so while playing well. That's because it is hard to imagine the Red Raiders cutting down the nets in San Francisco without him playing an important role over the next two games.