Lili Thompson out for season with torn ACL

[augustaTC]

This just stinks. It's just wrong. I feel for this young woman. Now her college career is over. Man, someone has an ND doll with a thousand pins in it. No player, no team, no coach deserves this. The players on the team have to be looking at each other saying "Who's next?" If ND makes the E8 this year it is a major achievement. I wouldn't put it past them, and I'm rooting hard for them to pull it together.

Don't much care for MM's personality, but respect the hell out of her as a coach. If anyone can turn this hot mess into lemonade, she can.

 

[bballnut90]

Feel so sorry for the young lady. Such a devastating injury.

In terms of Notre Dame, they already have seven excellent players. I doubt this makes much of a difference in their schedule. Indeed, they're on par with UConn in the sense that UConn can only count on seven players, the rest coming off the bench only at the end of blowouts.

...not quite. As Plebe mentioned, Thompson and Vaughn were 6 and 7 on the depth chart prior to injuries. The same Thompson who played 23 minutes vs. UCONN the first game and scored 9 points off the bench. Major loss that now leaves Notre Dame with 3 guards on the roster and they don't have depth to rest starters in non-competitive games like UCONN does.

UCONN's #6 and 7 are far and away superior to Notre Dame's. They have Azure Stevens who could be an AA this year, and Megan Walker who was the #1 recruit in the country. Notre Dame's is Kristina Nelson (4.4 ppg) and Danielle Patterson (2.8 ppg). Very different circumstance from Connecticut IMO.

 

[stamfordhusky]

I feel bad for her. If she wants another year, I hope the NCAA grants it to her.

That's not happening. I don't believe the NCAA has ever deviated from the 30% rule. If they had wanted to allow players to get an extra season after playing 47% of the schedule the previous year (as Thompson has done), they would have made the limit 50%. They did raise it from 20% to 30% a number of years ago to be accomodating to the players.

Also if they ever were going to deviate from the rule with some "super hardship" ruling - which I don't think will ever happen - she wouldn't be the one. It's terrible that she got injured, but she did get to play three full seasons (108 games for Stanford) plus the 14 games this year. Few players end up playing 122 games. Also she has already played 5 seasons and would thus need a second waiver for that reason. It's not going to happen.

 

[uconnfan68]

That's not happening. I don't believe the NCAA has ever deviated from the 30% rule. If they had wanted to allow players to get an extra season after playing 47% of the schedule the previous year (as Thompson has done), they would have made the limit 50%. They did raise it from 20% to 30% a number of years ago to be accomodating to the players.

Also if they ever were going to deviate from the rule with some "super hardship" ruling - which I don't think will ever happen - she wouldn't be the one. It's terrible that she got injured, but she did get to play three full seasons (108 games for Stanford) plus the 14 games this year. Few players end up playing 122 games. Also she has already played 5 seasons and would thus need a second waiver for that reason. It's not going to happen.

Wait... not everyone plays in 145+ games in their careers?

 

[Shades]

No. Sadly her college career is over.

She played this year because she wanted to help her odds of getting drafted. She's not getting drafted.

 

[msf22b]

Lili Thompson is (was) a true competitor with splendid skills;
that I also feared when she was on the court (against us).
I'm sorry for her and her family and the Irish who will have a difficult time keeping up now.
Does the team have to examine their approach to fitness and injury prevention.
I don't know where the science is on this issue but some teams seem to be doing better than others.

 

[Ozimoto]

So that's 4 ACLs
AND Westbeld missed training camp because of an ankle surgery that mysteriously would not heal
AND Shepard has been playing on sprained ankle recently
AND Jackie Young broke her nose and has been playing with a mask on

If I were Marina or Arike, I'd barricade myself in a padded room between games.

And play in a uniform made out of bubble wrap.

 

[oldude]

Lili Thompson is (was) a true competitor with splendid skills;
that I also feared when she was on the court (against us).
I'm sorry for her and her family and the Irish who will have a difficult time keeping up now.
Does the team have to examine their approach to fitness and injury prevention.
I don't know where the science is on this issue but some teams seem to be doing better than others.

I don’t want this comment to be misinterpreted. ND has a number of larger players (similar to Morgan Tuck) and they run a motion offense with lots of movement and hard cutting. The constant cutting puts a strain on knee joints, and the additional weight of larger players exacerbates the problem. That’s just my theory, which in no way explains the injury to Lili Thompson.

 

[skilz]

This a horrible story, no doubt. But in an earlier post someone mentioned this is ND's 4th ACL injury this year. If that's true, why hasn't anyone mentioned that ND might actually have a problem in their training department as opposed to just really bad luck? I rarely post on this board so you all know way more than I do when it comes to Women's College hoops. I understand ACL tears are common in the game but that's an alarming number for one team in half a season, no? Has there been any talk about the way they may be training in South Bend?

I'm glad someone else brought this up as I was thinking the same thing. I'd have another strength and conditioning coach come in and take over. The team may need more stretching or a different type of workout. 1-2 is bad luck, but when you are talking 3+, I'd have to look at all other options.

 

[BroadwayVa]

Feel so sorry for the young lady. Such a devastating injury.

In terms of Notre Dame, they already have seven excellent players. I doubt this makes much of a difference in their schedule. Indeed, they're on par with UConn in the sense that UConn can only count on seven players, the rest coming off the bench only at the end of blowouts.

The ND line up took a serious hit. Beyond that, this was Lilli's last hurrah--my question is: will this keep her out of the WnbA??
\\Ms Thompson is one heck of a BB player, I wish her well this couldn't come at a worse time in her career

 

[Orangutan]

I don’t want this comment to be misinterpreted. ND has a number of larger players (similar to Morgan Tuck) and they run a motion offense with lots of movement and hard cutting. The constant cutting puts a strain on knee joints, and the additional weight of larger players exacerbates the problem. That’s just my theory, which in no way explains the injury to Lili Thompson.

It wouldn't explain any of them. Mychal Johnson, Brianna Turner, and Mikayla Vaughn are all quite lean in their body types.

 

[oldude]

It wouldn't explain any of them. Mychal Johnson, Brianna Turner, and Mikayla Vaughn are all quite lean in their body types.

OK, so my next theory is that there's something in the water in South Bend.

 

[Orangutan]

Blog from Thompson discussing her injury:

My ACL Story | Taking The Last Shot

 

[oldude]

Blog from Thompson discussing her injury:

My ACL Story | Taking The Last Shot

Wonderful blog post by a remarkable young lady, but also heartbreaking at the same time. Life isn't fair.

 

[Crossover]

Blog from Thompson discussing her injury:

My ACL Story | Taking The Last Shot

She is a remarkable writer, and comes across as inordinately mature.

 

[stamfordhusky]

I don’t want this comment to be misinterpreted. ND has a number of larger players (similar to Morgan Tuck) and they run a motion offense with lots of movement and hard cutting. The constant cutting puts a strain on knee joints, and the additional weight of larger players exacerbates the problem. That’s just my theory, which in no way explains the injury to Lili Thompson.

I don't think the statistics bear this out in any way. Many of the players who go down with ACL's are on the thin side. Sue Bird, Caroline Doty, Jessica Moore weren't bulky players.

In football, non-contact ACL tears are much more prevalent among CB's and WR's - the lightest players - than they are among linemen.

 

[oldude]

I don't think the statistics bear this out in any way. Many of the players who go down with ACL's are on the thin side. Sue Bird, Caroline Doty, Jessica Moore weren't bulky players.

In football, non-contact ACL tears are much more prevalent among CB's and WR's - the lightest players - than they are among linemen.

Appreciate your comments re WBB. As for football it’s a much different situation. All OLineman now wear protective knee braces and cut blocks on DLinemen are restricted.

CB’s and WR’s are subject to a much higher likelihood of high speed impact to their knees, and many of them don’t even wear knee pads.

 

[WestCoastPup]

Wow, just wow. Feel sorry for Lili...

She sits out her senior year at Stanford (voluntarily), so you has eligibility as a grad transfer.
During this time, Stanford goes on to the final four and you have to ask "if Lili Thompson was on team, would they have gotten over the SC hump" ...

She gets to ND and suffers injury before the conference slate really starts... very sad.
Her college career maybe over, but there's still time to catch the WNBA or overseas options?

 

[BigBird]

I really feel bad for her. She didn’t deserve this; nobody deserves this. It’s just a rotten deal. Best wishes to her for a full recovery.

To whichever of the mods edited my original post, thank you. Upon reflection, that post didn’t meet my standards either.

 

[stamfordhusky]

Appreciate your comments re WBB. As for football it’s a much different situation. All OLineman now wear protective knee braces and cut blocks on DLinemen are restricted.

CB’s and WR’s are subject to a much higher likelihood of high speed impact to their knees, and many of them don’t even wear knee pads.

I specifically stated that I was talking about NON-CONTACT ACL injuries. Thus the protective knee braces are irrelevant - since they only protect from contact injuries and the high speed impacts are also irrelevant. But looking at the non-contact ACL tears, it is often the lighter players.

 

[oldude]

I specifically stated that I was talking about NON-CONTACT ACL injuries. Thus the protective knee braces are irrelevant - since they only protect from contact injuries and the high speed impacts are also irrelevant. But looking at the non-contact ACL tears, it is often the lighter players.

Sorry for missing that point. I believe non-contact injuries have more to do with DB/WR’s playing at higher speeds and making sharper cuts than lineman. Also would note that knee braces provide some protection against non-contact injuries as well. Of course, the problem is that they restrict the ability to run to a degree, something not as critical for the OL.

 

[stamfordhusky]

Also would note that knee braces provide some protection against non-contact injuries as well.

There are many orthopedists who disagree with you. For example, the two orthopedists who did different ACL surgeries on my dauther, both of whom were team doctors for top college programs, both told me that a brace won't do anything to prevent a non-contact ACL tear. It helps with contact injuries and may help give an athlete more confidence to jump/cut at full speed.