Occasionally there are teams who are so deep in talent that they can have a key player hurt and not take much of a step backward. Swen Nater was Bill Walton's back-up at UCLA, and he was drafted in the first round by the Milwaukee Bucks. Some of Kentucky's recent teams had so much talent that an injury would not have devastated them.
However, most teams at our level cannot sustain an injury to a key player without it making a significant difference in the team's prospects. It might not ruin their season, but it usually will be the difference between a good team and a great team, or a great team and a once-in-a-career team. That is the reason we commonly say that it is as important to be lucky as to be good. Last year we were lucky, as well as good. If Josh Hagins gets hurt, does anyone think the results would have been the same? If he gets hurt, do we beat Purdue? If he gets hurt, is Chris Beard now at Texas Tech? We still probably have an outstanding season, but not quite the results we had.
Will we stay healthy this year?
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