Ice Brady out for the season

[meyers7]

For one thing, women have more ACL injuries than men as I understand it. If you are a woman soccer player you can almost assume you will have an ACL at least once in a professional career. So a lot of us men just don't get the frequency of acls. My personal suspicion these injuries are happening from all the diving for loose balls.

How do you get that? Diving for balls and ACL injuries? I'd like to hear your thought process on this.

 

[meyers7]

We all may have somewhat different definitions of " Causality". I
choose to suspend judgment. Because I don't know why this, or
many other life events occur.

Well all these events that we've been discussing on this board (injuries, not winning NCs, recruiting misses, etc.), have to do with the Basketball gods. Our inability to appease them. Or in many situations we agitate them.

 

[UConnCat]

Well all these events that we've been discussing on this board (injuries, not winning NCs, recruiting misses, etc.), have to do with the Basketball gods. Our inability to appease them. Or in many situations we agitate them.

The Basketball gods gave us 9 national championships in 15 years, including 3 in a row, 2 in a row, and 4 in a row. Payback time I guess.

 

[augustaTC]

Ask Shea Ralph

And Caroline Doty

 

[BobbyJ]

For one thing, women have more ACL injuries than men as I understand it. If you are a woman soccer player you can almost assume you will have an ACL at least once in a professional career. So a lot of us men just don't get the frequency of acls. My personal suspicion these injuries are happening from all the diving for loose balls. Top teams want that level of hustle right? They expect and demand it. Paige bought into that as was great as a result but look what it cost her. A player like Paige might well have her career truncated from that approach but it's a big part of what makes her great.

My heart goes out to Ice, who had the whole world opening up for her this year and now will have to work hard to get that opportunity back. We all hate seeing it happen. Imagine if it were our daughter going through that. It's one of the great obstacles of life but we all have them right? Ice had hers early and before she even had a chance to display her ability this year. Now she needs to realize it's part of the game and when she works hard to come back it will be even more meaningful to her when she returns. So sad for her and wishing her strength and resilience!

1. Brady's injury is not an ACL tear. How did you not know that?
2. Neither of Bueckers' injuries had anything to do with diving on the floor. Where did you come up with this?

Orthopedics & Sports Medicine Specialties | UConn Health

Specialties at UConn Health, our team of orthopedic and sports medicine specialists are committed to relieving your pain and restoring your mobility.

health.uconn.edu

 

[Zarathustra]

I just GOOGLED Patellar Dislocation = It is worth the exercise to do this.
The first search item was " 10 causes, signs, and treatment of Patellar
Dislocation" from FACTY HEALTH. Read all ten. Some facts include:
It occurs most frequently in teenagers, Boys = Girls. It has a 24 %
genetic predisposition ( near relatives have a greater chance of it happening
to them ). Surgery is usually not indicated ( except when there is bone
or ligament damage ). It tends to occur with athletes who engage in
sports with stress the knee, they gave the example of gymnastics. It has
a good prognosis... but can reoccur. One treatment was to "Strenghen
the muscles" surround the knee cap to provide more support to the knee
area. It was very interesting and said alot more.... so check it out
and do some additional reseach if you are so inclined. GOOD LUCK
for a full and safe recovery to ICE. Z

 

[oldhusky]

I still think we could be dangerous this season, assuming no major injury to one of our 4 main guards, but the injuries to Paige and Ice create a scenario where however we finish, probably no team will have the quality of additions next year than Uconn will have. We have a recruiting class that will be among the best with KK, Ashlynn and Q, plus Paige and Ice added to the mix, while waiting to hear if El Alfy could lift our recruiting class to the best.

If we get her that would be 6 major additions, all of which were very high recruits except for Q who was still pretty high. We lose Dorka and Lou, maybe Aubrey, but there will be no more Boston at SC or Jones at Stanford among others, so on paper I think we should be the top ranked team heading into next year if we are anywhere near the top this year.

 

[augustaTC]

Most definitely some bad luck for the UConn football team and for the UConn women. Let's look at the WBB team:

Paige: torn acl. Unfortunately, this happens too often in women's basketball. Before Paige who was the last UConnWBB player to tear her acl? I can't even remember.

Azzi: foot injury that existed before her arrival at UConn. Azzi tore her acl while in high school.

Ducharme: hip injury which existed before her arrival at UConn

Dorka: fell awkwardly and landed on her wrist. Could proper training prevent that from happening?

Aubrey: back disc surgery. Does anyone know enough about Aubrey's anatomy to say that could have been prevented? I know people who've had back surgery and didn't even play sports.

Ice: dislocated patella. Last WBB player I recall this happening to was Chelsea Gray at Duke. She then fractured the same patella the following season. Several NBA players have had this injury over the years. Happened to NFL Quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Who else am I missing? Christyn tore her acl during training camp with the Mystics. Are we to blame that on UConn's training too?

UConnWBB had a really good stretch of being injury free while other teams had the injury bug.

UConnWBB had a really good stretch of being injury free while other teams had the injury bug.

This is so very, very true. I've been amazed over the years I've watched the team closely how lucky they've been up until the last couple of years. So much so that I'd been afraid to comment lest I jinx things. Well, I guess the injury bug has hit us...hopefully things will return to a more "normal" situation soon. And there's hardly a kid left on the floor who hasn't been hurt, had surgery, etc. Gonna be a challenging year for sure.

 

[Dillon77]

UCLA.

In 2018, Notre Dame won the national championship despite losing 4 players to ACL injuries. Four acl tears: Brianna Turner, Mychael Johnson, Mikayla Vaughn and Lili Thompson. Did ND fire their S&C coach?

No, ND didn't fire the trainer.

BTW, the injury to Lili Thompson occurred in the 2nd half of the UConn-Notre Dame regular-season game (unfortunately, there seems to be a history of that happening in these games.)

After Thompson went down, ND finished the season with 7 scholarship players and three walk-ons, one of whom -- Kaitln Cole -- was the only substitute guard. (Strangely, one of the scholarship subs, Danielle Paterson, is still playing ... at St. John's.)

Now, those five starters are all playing professional ball (four in the WNBA) so there was a lot of talent. However, UConn has a lot of talent and a great coaching staff to utilize it. Good luck to the coaching staff and remaining players going forward.

And best of luck to Ice Brady on her recuperation. I look forward to seeing her play. And it never hurts to restate that for Paige.

 

[UConnCat]

Coincidence? Causation? Call it whatever you want. But all I'm saying is Rosemary Ragle left UCONN in 2016. Since she left we have not won a NC and the injuries seem to have been piling up.

Rosemary was the trainer not the strength and conditioning coach but she sure was a good one. Fire Janelle Francisco.

 

[BIGMAC]

Best wishes to Ice Brady on a complete and quick recovery.
I don't see it as losing a player for the year, but gaining another assist coach.

 

[Blond D.]

after watching some of the players lifting weights i noticed some were going lower than a 45 degree angle with their legs. THAT is bad for the knees. Im a bit surprised that hasnt been an issue that was brought up to the trainer or strength coach.

 

[UConnCat]

after watching some of the players lifting weights i noticed some were going lower than a 45 degree angle with their legs. THAT is bad for the knees. Im a bit surprised that hasnt been an issue that was brought up to the trainer or strength coach.

Andrea Hudy's email is available online.

I bet she'll answer. She seems to be that type of person.

 

[UConnCat]

No, ND didn't fire the trainer.

Well good. Only UConnWBB fans bring the knives out at times like this.

 

[Jim]

Any info on how this happened- I mean, was it a collision between two players? Did it just give out when running? I don’t have a pressing need to know but am curious

I have absolutely no information about how this injury came about, but my suspicion is that somehow Nika was involved.

 

[tkaes]

If you're going to question Huddy's training methods you must analyze her work over the years in all of the places she was employed. You can't just look at her years at UCONN because there can be so many factors which contribute to injuries as many have stated. You have to look at the injury experience throughout her career.

Huddy is not just someone who hung out a shingle and wandered in to Storrs off of the street. I suspect (but of course only have her credentials and experience to judge) that there is no substantive correlation between her training methods and the injuries that have occurred on her watch.

KingKong139 - I'm curious. Why did you dislike this post? Is it because it challenges your speculation that there is a correlation between injuries and the UCONN trainer without any substantiation on your part? I realize I did not provide any substantiation to back my opinion but I specifically said it was a guess. You stated that there clearly was a correlation between the trainer and the injury frequency.

You are free to dislike my post but I think you should justify your conclusions with fact if you're that insistent that you're correct.

 

[wbbfjlf]

Another article from Hospital for Special Surgery: Patellofemoral Instability| Kneecap & Knee Joint Problems

 

[KingKong139]

You do know that Azzi Fudd's foot condition existed before her arrival at UConn, right? What was the serious injury she suffered?

You do know that Caroline Ducharme's hip condition existed before her arrival at UConn, right? What was the serious injury she suffered? She missed a few games last season due to a concussion but no games due to the hip issue that required surgery during the off-season.

You do know that Dorka was hit going up for a shot during a game and landed on her wrist which was then fractured, right? How would training prevent that?

To play devils advocate with your reasoning, can we attribute Christyn ACL to time at UConn then? It did occur on her very first day with Washington…..it can’t go both ways.

 

[AmeriConn]

I have absolutely no information about how this injury came about, but my suspicion is that somehow Nika was involved.

What????? I don’t find that a bit humorous.

 

[UConnCat]

To play devils advocate with your reasoning, can we attribute Christyn ACL to time at UConn then? It did occur on her very first day with Washington…..it can’t go both ways.

Sorry, but what you're suggesting makes no sense and has nothing to do with any reasoning I've employed.

I was simply pointing out that neither Azzi nor Caroline experienced a specific event at UConn that resulted in an injury. They both have conditions (foot/hip) that began before they arrived at UConn and are the result of overuse. Christyn tore her ACL which typically involves an event -- planting the leg, cutting, landing awkwardly, etc. But sure, we can blame UConn for that one too.

 

[bballnut90]

I think it's very short sighted to question the training staff or practices when looking at UCONN's injuries, or assume UCONN is experiencing far more injuries than any other program. From an outsider perspective, I've thought this was always an area where UCONN has historically excelled in that the majority of their stars and prized recruits have had healthy careers where they were always healthy in March and avoided season ending injuries (ex. Stewart, Jefferson, Taurasi, Moore, Charles, Collier, KLS, etc.). In the last 20 years I believe Bueckers is the only All-American caliber player who they've lost to a season ending injury. That's a pretty good track record.

Furthermore, if you look around the country there are several teams every year that get decimated by injury. I follow Tennessee more closely than most and they've had many serious injuries to their best players (Catchings, Parker, Russell, Hornbuckle, Harrison, Burrell, Massengale) and a slew of other role players getting injured and having to redshirt or miss the end of the season. Notre Dame had 4 players out with ACLs I believe in 2018. Vandy is down 3 starters to start this year. There will be many other season ending injuries ahead. It's part of the game unfortunately and it seems to be more prevelant on the womens side. I wish Brady a fast and full recovery.

 

[VA Huskie]

Most definitely some bad luck for the UConn football team and for the UConn women. Let's look at the WBB team:

Paige: torn acl. Unfortunately, this happens too often in women's basketball. Before Paige who was the last UConnWBB player to tear her acl? I can't even remember.

Azzi: foot injury that existed before her arrival at UConn. Azzi tore her acl while in high school.

Ducharme: hip injury which existed before her arrival at UConn

Dorka: fell awkwardly and landed on her wrist. Could proper training prevent that from happening?

Aubrey: back disc surgery. Does anyone know enough about Aubrey's anatomy to say that could have been prevented? I know people who've had back surgery and didn't even play sports.

Ice: dislocated patella. Last WBB player I recall this happening to was Chelsea Gray at Duke. She then fractured the same patella the following season. Several NBA players have had this injury over the years. Happened to NFL Quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Who else am I missing? Christyn tore her acl during training camp with the Mystics. Are we to blame that on UConn's training too?

UConnWBB had a really good stretch of being injury free while other teams had the injury bug.

Well said. I have no data, but I remember thinking a couple of years ago that it seemed like we’d gone quite some time with few, if any, major injuries. Sadly, that period is over.

 

[Big Mick]

.

This thread parallels other threads as to which group a commenter falls into.


There are three groups:

1) A group that understands sports and injuries; they offer support and encouragement.

2) A group that doesn't understand the injury aspect: they lament that the season is over.

3) A group that knocks UCONN anytime they see a chance; by doing that, they think it would benefit their team. Or, worse case, they just want to throw shade on the standard bearer in Women's College Basketball.


Think about it: where do you fall?

 

[UConnCat]

I think it's very short sighted to question the training staff or practices when looking at UCONN's injuries, or assume UCONN is experiencing far more injuries than any other program. From an outsider perspective, I've thought this was always an area where UCONN has historically excelled in that the majority of their stars and prized recruits have had healthy careers where were always healthy in March and avoided season ending injuries (ex. Stewart, Jefferson, Taurasi, Moore, Charles, Collier, KLS, etc.). In the last 20 years I believe Bueckers is the only All-American caliber player who they've lost to a season ending injury.

Furthermore, if you look around the country there are several teams every year that get decimated by injury. I follow Tennessee more closely than most and they've had many serious injuries to their best players (Catchings, Parker, Hornbuckle, Harrison, Burrell, Massengale) and a slew of other role players getting injured and having to redshirt or miss the end of the season. Notre Dame too experienced this with 4 players having ACLs I believe in 2018. Vandy is down 3 starters to start the year. There were be many other season ending injuries ahead. It's part of the game unfortunately and it seems to be more prevelant on the womens side. I wish Brady a fast and full recovery.

It's really been a remarkable run. Svetlana went down in February 2001 and of course Shea in the BET finals in March 2001.

I think the last UConn player to tear her ACL was Brianna Banks in 2013. Tuck had knee issues that were more chronic in nature and she did miss some time.

 

[oldhusky]

This is so very, very true. I've been amazed over the years I've watched the team closely how lucky they've been up until the last couple of years. So much so that I'd been afraid to comment lest I jinx things. Well, I guess the injury bug has hit us...hopefully things will return to a more "normal" situation soon. And there's hardly a kid left on the floor who hasn't been hurt, had surgery, etc. Gonna be a challenging year for sure.

It seems to me that most years, the very top teams heading into the season can often sustain an injury and still be a championship contender. Their odds may shift from one of the favorites to more of a longshot, but they can still have enough hope to keep that dream somewhat alive. We are generally in that position year end and year out, with last year being an example.

Then there are quite a few teams that have a longshot chance if everything goes their way, they don't suffer major injuries, other programs do, and they pull off a couple of upsets in the tournament. The hopes of those teams rely on no bad news. An injury, like to Paige or Ice pretty much ends their championship aspirations.

We have had healthy and unhealthy years since the first championship, but it seems to me that even when bad luck happened, we still generally had some chance at the big prize. Maybe that wasn't true for part of the period between Dianna and Maya, but the consistency of being a contender in good times and bad is pretty remarkable. That generally means being on paper one of the top 2 or 3 teams heading into the season, which we have been with great regularity.