Wichita State’s Landry Shamet Will Miss 12-16 Weeks With A Broken Foot

On Saturday, CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reported (and got confirmation and quotes) that Wichita State Shockers guard Landry Shamet had suffered a stress fracture in his right foot and would miss the next 12 to 16 weeks as he recovers from surgery.

Why is this on a Marquette Golden Eagles website, you ask? Well, the Golden Eagles have a possible second round matchup against Wichita State in the Maui Invitational on November 21st. 12 weeks of recovery from the surgery on Monday, July 31, takes us up to October 23rd. 16 weeks is November 20th, the first day of the Maui Invitational.

Yes, yes, I know that means that Shamet will almost assuredly be cleared to play by the time Marquette tips off against WSU. In fact, both Shamet and Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall told Norlander that they “are highly confident” that Shamet, who averaged 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists last season while shooting 44% from behind the arc, will be active by mid-November. Here’s the deal, though: Shamet is going to have to be on crutches for six to eight weeks and avoid using his right foot for pretty much literally anything at all while he has to wear a non-weight bearing boot. Six to eight weeks of leg and cardio atrophy in a highly developed athlete is a lot, and it’s going to take some time for Shamet to get that back. Once he’s off crutches, then the full fledged rehab can start, and it’s possible that he’s not going to be 100% by the time the Shox leave for Hawaii. Even if he is back to full capacity, it’s probably in Shamet’s best interest for Marshall to limit his minutes. Stress fractures in your feet can be a weird thing to deal with in terms of nagging injuries, especially in one of the outside metatarsals as is the case with Shamet. It’s also Shamet’s second stress fracture and now he has gone through one in both of his feet.

Look, Wichita State is going to be a bear to deal with or without a 100% Shamet. Buuuuuut, if a slightly reduced Shamet, either in minutes played or ability to reach his full potential, gives the Golden Eagles even a 1% better chance of getting the win over the Shockers, then that’s a plus for Marquette. That goes double or maybe even triple if WSU goes on and wrecks shop in the American Athletic Conference in January and February as expected.

Of course, this is all probably dependent on MU getting a win over VCU in the first round of the tournament in order to get to play Wichita, and that’s not going to be a picnic, either.