USU hoops: Bendall close to being back?

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Nate Bendall practiced for the first time on Monday since his foot injury flared up. That's great news for the Aggies who could use their 6-9 senior center. Bendall took no contact in practice. He participated in shooting drills, and 5-5 shell drills, which are mostly used for defensive rotations. But it was a start. Bendall felt no pain, but Stew Morrill was quick to caution that he's been away for so long that the better test will be when he starts playing for real.

"It's still a little too early to say," Morrill said. "We just have to see how it feels in a few days."

Bendall, according to Morrill, desperately wants to play on Wednesday night against Utah. But that's "highly, highly unlikely", Morrill said. Bendall could be back in time for Saturday's game against Northeastern, but that's iffy. More likely, if everything goes well, Bendall will play against Denver next Wednesday. And if that goes well, he will go against Georgetown next Saturday, which should be great for Aggie fans because this Hoyas team is shaping up to be pretty deep in the paint. Much deeper than originally anticipated.

The key will be timing and conditioning. Bendall has to have time to get his condition back. But with the breakthrough of Morgan Grim, who has proven to be more than serviceable off the bench, a healthy Bendall would make the Aggies deep in the paint as well.

"I've always said that I want to have Bendall back, some Bendall is better than no Bendall at all," Morrill said.

Tony Jones