Update: UNC has announced that Travis Wear is out indefinitely with a severely sprained ankle, but there is no fracture.
–
First, the good news: Tyler Zeller has been cleared to begin shooting and straight-ahead running. The initial prognosis was that he would be out for 4-6 weeks, which would be the middle-to-end of February. Hopefully this is a sign that he is healing as was expected.
And now the bad news: there are multiple reports that Travis Wear injured his ankle in practice yesterday. There is no official word on the severity of the injury.
For those who are keeping track at home, this makes 6 ankle injuries (Ginyard, Strickland, Graves, Watts, Davis, and Wear), 1 foot injury (Zeller), and one hand injury (Drew II). Injuries are a part of sports, but this is an unusually large number for a single season.
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Really does make you wonder about the shoes…
has there been even a single report of an ankle injury all year over at Dook? with the way they run themselves ragged?
they wear a different style of Nike, right?
The shoes, the floor, the trainer… something has to change. Maybe all three need to change. This can’t go on.
The reports do say that “there was no word that he broke it”.
Wilf,
I think that was primarily to dispel the rumors on IC that he did suffer a break. Hopefully it proves to be the actual diagnosis, as well.
You guys think they will have the game tonight?
They canceled Maryland and UVa….
It’s not the shoes or the floor or the trainer. Come on. It’s just bad luck.
” University of North Carolina forward Travis Wear severely sprained his left ankle yesterday and will not play in tonight’s game against Duke. Wear is on crutches and is out indefinitely after landing on a teammates’ foot while grabbing a rebound in Tuesday’s practice. X-rays did not show any fracture.
The freshman from Huntington Beach, Calif., is averaging 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds in 15 minutes of action in Atlantic Coast Conference games. He was Carolina’s first post player off the bench since an injury to sophomore Tyler Zeller put Zeller on the shelf since the first ACC game. ”
http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/021010aad.html
stephens,
I mostly agree, though if I were to pick one of the three, I would definitely want to look at the shoes, as it is not uncommon for a shoe design to leave the wearer prone to certain types of injuries. This is one of the downsides to having a “team shoe.” You aren’t necessarily going to get a brand that conforms to the feet of all 13 players.
^^^why cant it be the shoes? basketball shoes are allegedly designed to provide ankle support. there cant be a bad design? of course there can.
thats like saying you cant have a poor car brake design…oh wait.
severe and on crutches. sounds like thats his season, right there.
to be fair, Travis was unlikely to be the difference between winning and losing this game tonight.
^^ true, but he does provide hustle on a team that appears to be lacking…
^you got that right. hurt on a rebound. a REBOUND? what was HE thinking.
I guess Roy might have to play Henson tonight, whether he wants to or not….
Well, nuts, more injuries. Makes you realize how special last year’s team was, having Ginyard and Graves (not injured) out, a greatly diminished Frasor, and still winning the national championship. I don’t think there are more injuries this year, but the team can’t afford any of them.
Well, I’m pretty sure the floor and the trainer don’t have much to do with it when you come down on somebody else’s foot, and shoes can only provide so much protection and support. Landing on another’s foot usually spells sprain, unless you’re alredy wearing a cast.
“Well, nuts, more injuries. Makes you realize how special last year’s team was, having Ginyard and Graves (not injured) out, a greatly diminished Frasor, and still winning the national championship.”
This may have been why we won the national championship.
Oooo….I can’t believe I said that.
Perhaps they should start wearing ankle braces in practice as a precautionary measure.
“Well, nuts, more injuries. Makes you realize how special last year’s team was, having Ginyard and Graves (not injured) out, a greatly diminished Frasor, and still winning the national championship.”
UNC also benefited from the timing of Hansbrough’s (really no effect on the season b/c it happened so early) and Lawson’s (able to take almost 2 weeks off while only missing 1 game that was important) injuries. Just goes to show that you have to be lucky AND good to win the NCAAT.
That was funny Larry!
William, I know we’ve had some disagreements in the past, and I am sure we will have some in the future. That was a funny comment you made, and I wholeheartedly agree. We will see more Henson tonight!
One thing I find funny is that our disagreements, even though rare, come when UNC is on the winning side of things. Now that we are losing, I agree with everything you’ve said in these posts. You echo my sentiments. Another funny thing is that the people I tend to have the same frame of mind with when we’re winning, I disagree with when we are struggling. I know this is not part of this thread, but I found it to be a comical observation. And thanks William, for all of your insight.
Can things get any worse? I mean dang, I know there can be a downside to a lot of success, but losing and frequent injuries is something I would have never thought we’d be going through this year. I’d like to say I think the said players will recover fast, but you have to wonder. I suppose we should draw some optimism due to how speedy Zeller is coming along. But there still isn’t any guarantee he will see the floor any sooner than expected, regardless of how quickly rehab is coming along.
Beating Duke tonight will not ease the pain of having an NCAA tournament with no UNC, but I will have to say it makes that acute moment of watching the game more exciting, and it will help me get through it.
Used to be when we were struggling in 01-03, I could turn on the NBA and watch Vince Carter (who was nearly unstoppable during that period) and ease my pain. Now, we really don’t have any notable forces in the NBA. Felton is playing good (BTW, he hit a game winning shot last night, and Carter dropped 48 points), but there is really not much else.
^Obviously this season is the Yin to last season’s Yang. Such is the way of Universe. Balance must be maintained and…Oh forget it – that Zen stuff isn’t working either. I still feel rotten.
WOW, I guess the sensitivity meter is running high today, and jokes about how not having some of the lesser players last year is ok, but any jokes about how players are performing this year are off limits.
william, actually heard that Thomas Thornton graded higher than Henson in practice the last couple days, so the additional playing time still might be in question……..
/hopefully an allowable joke
Harrison Barnes will be at the game tonight, maybe he can suit up?
^That has worked fairly well for Andre Dawkins and Duke this year.
Yeah, you’re probably right. That was kind of unfair on my part even if it was intended in every way as a joke. Actually, Bobby played well at the end of the year and made some good plays in championship run. I guess I was joking more about Marcus and Will, but it’s not logical to project the tough year they’re having retroactively. Will would probably not have gotten a whole lot of minutes ,although I don’t really know that. The interesting thing is how much Marcus would have played if he had been healthy, and what his impact, one way or the other, would have been.
We’ll never know if we would have been better with them, but we do know, fortunately, that we did fine without them.
Thanks Josh.
I would not complain if Roy started the last five guys off the bench tonight…. People say, well, if you can’t get up for Duke, who can you get up for, but in a way, it is almost sadder if it has come to that, that UNC can’t play with aggression and enthusiasm unless it is against Duke. If that is the case, we are going to get destroyed….
^^Don’t have an issue with your joke Larry, but evidently this site is starting to cherry pick which jokes to include and which ones should be deleted, kind of like how Roy has cherry picked players to yank out of the game or criticize in press conferences for mistakes this season.