Andy Brown News

PA Weekly Online Sports Jack Trotter, the 6-foot-9 sophomore center from East Bay's Campolindo High, knew he would be called upon to fill some important shoes after the Stanford men's basketball lost four starters to graduation from last year's team.

Like the old Willie Nelson song, the Oral Roberts University basketball team is on the road again.

The Stanford basketball season officially gets underway on Friday the 13th. The men's team already has experienced enough bad luck to last the year.

Coach Johnny Dawkins, appearing at the Pac-10 media day, told The Chronicle that the 6-foot-8 forward/center will be out indefinitely because of the condition, although he "wasn't at liberty to say what it is." Owens has yet to practice with the team.

The case is under investigation and no charges have been filed so far, said Bill Larson, spokesman for the Stanford University Department of Public Safety.

Let's put our heads together and figure out a way Stanford men's basketball coach Johnny Dawkins can come out of the 2009-2010 season looking good.

Two medical setbacks and a legal case have left Stanford's already thin roster depleted two weeks before the men's basketball season opener.

Johnny Dawkins has little time to ponder the great challenge he faces in rebuilding Stanford's proud basketball program.

Stanford freshman Andy Brown will miss the season with a left knee injury. Brown, a 6-foot-8 forward, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the Cardinal's practice Saturday, the school said Monday.

The Cardinal won 20 games overall a year ago and still finished ninth in the Pac-10. Now, without three departed senior starters, it's hard to imagine Stanford mounting a charge toward the league's upper division.

SCOUTING THE NEWCOMERS: PF Andrew Zimmerman, a 6-8, 215-pound redshirt sophomore, becomes eligible to play after transferring from nearby Santa Clara , and will compete immediately for a starting job.

Stanford basketball coach Johnny Dawkins must feel like his head is going to explode with all the issues he has to consider as preseason practice gets underway on Friday .

Although most of the recent attention has revolved around Stanford's men's basketball recruiting success, the hard reality of this season will have to be addressed starting this Friday, when preseason practice begins.