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No. 2 Louisville loses starting center Gorgui Dieng to a broken wrist

Miami v Louisville

LOUISVILLE, KY - NOVEMBER 18: Gorgui Dieng #10 of the Louisville Cardinals shoots the ball during the game against the Miami Redhawks at KFC YUM! Center on November 18, 2012 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

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To say the least it was not a good weekend for Louisville fans in regards to news about key players and wrist injuries.

On Saturday it was starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater who broke his left wrist, and on Sunday night it was announced by the program that the basketball team will be without an important player for the foreseeable future.

Starting center Gorgui Dieng, who sat out the Cardinals’ loss to Duke in the Battle 4 Atlantis title game with the wrist injury, broke the scaphoid bone in his left wrist taking a charge in Friday’s semifinal against Missouri.

According to the school release Dieng will see a hand specialist on Monday, and he’ll determine the timeframe of Dieng’s recovery.

Dieng, who was on the preseason lists for both the Wooden and Naismith awards, is averaging 8.2 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per contest for the 5-1 Cardinals, who are off until Saturday when they host Illinois State.

Losing their best interior defender is a tough blow for the Cardinals, especially if Dieng were to be out until the start of Big East play. Louisville still has non-conference games against Memphis (December 15) and Kentucky (December 29), and that December 4 contest against College of Charleston shouldn’t be overlooked either.

But Rick Pitino isn’t lacking for depth. Chane Behanan, Montrezl Harrell and Stephen Van Treese all saw action in the Bahamas, and now they’ll be asked to do more. If they’re ready for more responsibility the Cardinals should be in good shape, especially when considering perimeter weapons such as Peyton Siva and Russ Smith.

Raphielle also writes for the NBE Basketball Report and can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.