AU loses Dollard for year, Prowell for 6 games

By Ross Dellenger
sports@decaturdaily.com · 340-2460

AUBURN — Fewer than two weeks shy of the 2007 season opener, the Auburn basketball team lost two of its most productive players.

Junior forward Josh Dollard, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder from a year ago, will miss this season, and senior Quan Prowell has been suspended for at least six games.

Dollard will redshirt for the 2007-08 season because of “medical reasons,” Auburn coach Jeff Lebo said in a statement released Monday.

Lebo did not disclose the extent of Dollard’s injuries. Dollard did not suffer any major injury last season.

“We hope that everyone will respect his privacy,” he said in the statement, which classified Dollard as taking “a leave of absence.”

Prowell, also a forward, has been suspended for violating team rules. Lebo said Prowell “needs to focus on his priorities.”

An Auburn spokesman said Dollard and Prowell will continue to practice with the team but he was unsure if they would travel to away games.

A 6-foot-7, 235-pounder from South Carolina, Dollard averaged 12.5 points a game and seven rebounds last season, helping Auburn to a 17-15 mark.

Dollard, who started all but three games last season, was arrested Oct. 3 for not paying a fine related to another crime, but Lebo said earlier this month he would not be suspended.

Dollard missed the first six games of last season for undisclosed reason. He also missed the last five games of the 2005-06 year for violating team rules.

A Columbus, Ga., native, Prowell averaged 12 points and 5.3 rebounds a game, while making half of his field goal attempts and 43 percent of shots from 3-point range. He started nine games last season.

“When (Prowell) begins to exhibit the qualities of accountability and dependability, he will be welcomed back to play with us,” the coach said.

This is not the first time Prowell has been suspended at the beginning of the season.

The 6-7, 215-pounder missed the first 11 games of 2006 on suspension.

Auburn tips off the season with an exhibition game Thursday against Bluefield College. The Tigers open regular-season play at Tulane on Nov. 9.

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