M. Hoops adds player to injured list

The Oakland Athletics had their Bash Brothers, and now the Penn men's basketball team has its own pair of non-siblings with sibling-esque nicknames: the Boot Brothers.

But while Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire received that nickname for a good thing -- their propensity to hit home runs -- the Quakers are hoping their Boot Brothers soon become shoeless.

Senior forward Dan Solomito suffered a severe right ankle sprain on Monday and will likely be sidelined for four-to-six weeks. He had a brace and an oversized boot put on that foot on Tuesday and is using a pair of crutches to move around.

Solomito joins junior swingman Duane King on the sidelines. King, who lives with Solomito, underwent surgery for a stress fracture in his left foot on Sept. 21 and is also boot-clad and crutches-bound.

"We've been called the Boot Brothers, the Crutch Brothers," Solomito said. "We usually crutch together from class, or to get something to eat."

Solomito and King are likely to remain on crutches for another week and should be back prior to Penn's first game versus Georgia Tech on Nov. 19.

King's recovery "seems to be going great," according to Solomito. King had originally been expected to miss six weeks.

Solomito, who injured his ankle when he went up for a block in a workout and landed on another player's foot, receives treatment twice a day for his foot and hopes to be able to swim and bike in two weeks.

Except for a foot problem that nagged him throughout last season, this is Solomito's first injury in his four years at Penn.

"It's a little disappointing," said Solomito, who averaged 3.0 points in 22 games last season. "But I'm in good spirits. It's part of sports, part of athletics, part of life. You have setbacks."

Penn's first practice is on Oct. 13.

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