First John Calipari leaves. Then a whole bunch of top recruits follow. Then, after John Calipari leaves, the news that Derrick Rose's SAT was probably not a real SAT leaks to the public. Then, after that, Rose's SAT becomes grounds for probation and a vacation of the program's banner year in 2007-08. This has been Josh Pastner's offseason, folks; if you thought living for seven months without basketball was bad, try that sequence of events on for size.

Now Pastner has yet another drawback to deal with: Forward Angel Garcia tore his right knee's ACL in individual workouts last Thursday and is going to miss the season. Ouch, both literally and figuratively:

"After sitting out last year, this is an unfortunate bump-in-the-road for Angel," said Pastner. "However, I believe Angel will overcome this adversity and return a better player. Due to his character and principles, there is no doubt he will remain positive in a tough situation. I know the fans were looking forward to seeing Angel on the court this year, and we were as well. But we'll rally around Angel, and our players and coaching staff will be there for him throughout his rehab. I'd also encourage Tiger Nation to send prayers and thoughts Angel's way as he works hard to return to the court in 2010-11."

Garcia is a versatile forward whose East Chicago high school team featured Purdue guard E'Twaun Moore; the duo faced former Indiana star and current Clipper guard Eric Gordon in the 2007 Indiana High School basketball state championship. Contrary to most predictions, East Chicago won that game, and Garcia was a major reason why. At an extremely lanky 6-foot-10, Garcia can shoot from the perimeter, put the ball on the floor -- one dribble-drive move in that state title game made the crowd go bonkers -- and bang around inside effectively against smaller opponents. But at 210 pounds he still needs to add weight and muscle and strength, and those things are going to be difficult to achieve alongside ACL recovery.

Losing Garcia also leaves Pastner with but eight scholarship players, which, like I said, ouch. It's a testament to the talent left behind at Memphis that the Tigers will still probably be nominally competitive this year, but Memphis fans looking for a seamless transition in the post-Calipari era just got another reason to doubt themselves.

Related: C-USA Basketball