Elijah Childs out 3-6 weeks

[Chibearsfan10125]

Elijah Childs officially out 3-6 weeks with a broken hand.

[Da Coach]

This would suggest that there was a fracture found in his right hand. Tough news. Bradley loses their top scorer and rebounder.
Elijah is the 9th leading scorer among MVC players, and the top rebounder.

3 weeks would mean he would miss the next 4 games and could return for the 3rd MVC game at Evansville.
If he is out 6 weeks, he would miss 10 games and return for the 9th MVC game at home Jan. 27 against Valparaiso.

Get well soon Eli!

Bradley now needs everyone else to step up, but especially Koch Bar, Ari Boya, Ja'Shon Henry, and Stephan Gabriel, who will fill Eli's minutes.

[Tommy]

Man, that really is a blow. I didn't see when he got injured. Does anyone know exactly what happened?

[BUfan39]

This would suggest that there was a fracture found in his right hand. Tough news. Bradley loses their top scorer and rebounder.
Elijah is the 9th leading scorer among MVC players, and the top rebounder.

3 weeks would mean he would miss the next 4 games and could return for the 3rd MVC game at Evansville.
If he is out 6 weeks, he would miss 10 games and return for the 9th MVC game at home Jan. 27 against Valparaiso.

Get well soon Eli!

Bradley now needs everyone else to step up, but especially Koch Bar, Ari Boya, Ja'Shon Henry, and Stephan Gabriel, who will fill Eli's minutes.

That really hurts. Next man up mentality. Hopefully it's closer to 3 weeks than 6 weeks. It's a shame he's likely going to miss both UNI games.

[Da Coach]

Man, that really is a blow. I didn't see when he got injured. Does anyone know exactly what happened?

Elijah fell to the floor under the Bradley basket early in the second half as he went up for a shot. He fell onto his right side with his right hand under him.

Here is the replay video of the game. The injury occurred at the 14:00 minute mark of the 2nd half
http://www.espn.com/watch?id=3476b2c...ee&t=01h01m41s

Move the video ahead to just before the 14:00 minute mark of the 2nd half with the score 53-39.

It looks like Eli was driving for a shot, was bumped and slipped slightly and came down off balance and fell. He does not appear to fall too hard, but just awkwardly onto his right hand. He was called for a travelling call, but note that he immediately shakes the right hand and holds onto it with his left hand. The announcers commented that he appeared to injure his right hand.
He comes out of the game at that point (14:00 left in the 2nd half), but then returned to the game at the 11:13 mark and played until being removed for good at the 6:53 mark when Coach Wardle took several players out and put reserves in. He missed the only shot he took after the injury (a jumper at 7:53 of the 2nd half). It was after being removed at the 6:63 mark that the trainer and the team doctor examine the hand.

One more thought... Since the injury involves Eli's right hand, that might be less devastating than if it was his left hand (since he is left handed). It shouldn't affect his shot as much when he does return, and he might be able to return a little sooner, hopefully. Also, though he will not practice for a few weeks, he would probably be able to get some shots up on his own with his right hand either in a cast or in a splint.

[egib52]

Ultimately this is a blow for BU, but could have a bit of net positive impact if guys like Henry and Gabriel use this as an opportunity to step into bigger roles. It could lead to a stronger team down the stretch.

[Dub]

Eli is a very tough young man. Based on that, I’m optimistic he will return sooner than later. When he does, it’s likely that his back-ups will have progressed in their level of contribution and execution. The most worrisome part to me is that Eli has become our clear floor leader, calling all the huddles... and that has to be back filled. I hope that the importance of that is realized and clearly delegated. What’s also important is that the team adopts an attitude of refusing to let this cost them wins.

[bigjimmy]

First I'm feel bad for Eli. This will probably cost him any chance for MVC MVP. Hard to replace a guy who is your best player. But as has been said previously this gives some guys valuable opportunities to step up keep improving. This might be a temporary setback but this will make us better by Arch Madness time.

[Classof77]

Opportunity knocks for Stephen Gabriel ! Time to step up !!

[Tommy]

Looking at the schedule, best case scenario, Eli comes back in 3 weeks and only misses 4 games, 2 being conference games. Let's hope for that. If he does miss more, then I'm with Classof77 - time for Gabriel to step up. Guy already looks like a stud and a steal. I'm thrilled for the future of Bradley basketball and Wardle just seems to make the team better every year!

[BUSongwriter]

What I want for Christmas for the Braves is a) for Elijah to be back at least in time for the Jan. 18 home game against Northern Iowa, and b) for Carver to have at least 8,000 fans present for that game. It's on a Saturday night. In the middle of January. Let's make the place rock and keep the momentum for a Valley title. It's been wayyyyyyy too long.