I guess if there was one advantage to Sidney Lowe's laissez-faire practices, it was that they decreased the likelihood of this sort of thing:
NC State senior guard C.J. Williams sustained a hairline fracture to his left thumb during Thursday's practice. Williams will be out of action for an undetermined amount of time.
So let's ballpark this injury and say it's a six-to-eight weeks ordeal. I googled around and didn't find anything definitive, but recovery times seemed to be in the one-to-two month range in most cases. If Williams were out six weeks, he'd be back on December 9th. He'd miss the first eight games of the season, including the games against Vanderbilt, Oregon State/Texas, Stanford, and Indiana. But he would be back in time for Syracuse. If he were out eight weeks, he'd be looking at a return around Christmas, and he would miss an additional four games, including Syracuse.
In any case, transfer Alex Johnson just became that much more important, and Jaqawn Raymond might now be in a position to receive some playing time.