Paulus and Pocius undergo successful surgeries

[greybeard]

You guys are killing me. I've been saying since the season began, that Paulus's continued injury was plainly visable and completely explained the difficulties that he was encountering on the court. While I thought that he shouldn't have been on the court, I repeatedly mentioned to all his detractors that the kid was being incredibly brave by putting himself out there when he knew he would be embarassed because of that injury and by providing incredible leadership by doing so.

Not to toot my own horn or nothing, but even the devil is due his due. Yeah, I know, not all the time.

Watch him carefully next year, and, if he still has difficulties with traps on occasion, or bustin past people pressuring him, well, I've been saying it all year and will continue to--the guy is a born leader and, if K wants him out there, that's good enough for me.

That said, I share the hope that his recovery is such that he will be able to pursue his passion (I probably do the same and hate myself in the morning) with the skill and effectiveness I know that the young man possesses, which, contrary to his detractors, I have always believed makes him one of the stellar points in the college game.

[pfrduke]

At the risk of starting a huge debate... if Paulus' foot never fully healed, why on God's green earth was he allowed to play? This has been a disturbing pattern over the last several years, with the likes of Paulus, Nelson, McClure, Dockery all coming back quicker than expected from injuries, and when the season ends the public finds out that they were never back to full health. I don't get it... I'd much rather have had GP sit out half the year and come back at full steam.

It's a question of what you're looking for with "fully healed." There are some injuries that will never fully heal. There are others that may eventually fully heal, but don't necessarily get any worse if you exercise through them. Then there are the injuries that either completely inhibit you, or would get substantially worse if you play through them. I'd be willing to bet that everyone on this message board has played through an injury at some point in time, even though they weren't at full steam.

If the doctors tell the players they won't suffer any further harm by playing through an injury, then why make them sit until they're 100%? It happens all the time, with athletes in all sports, that people will play through injuries and then get surgery at season's end. Personally, and assuming that the injury is not one that will seriously worsen if played through, I'll take 30 games of Paulus at 80-90% over 10 games at 100%.

Now, I certainly don't know what the circumstances of the injuries to Greg and Marty were - how inhibiting they were, how long it would have taken for "full recovery," and how much harm they did by continuing to play through them. But saying they should only play if they're at "full health" is a little too simple - if full health was the standard, I'd imagine it would be difficult to field a team by the time January rolls around, let alone March.

[GMR]

Remember, folks, who had surgery following last year's season, then couldn't practice all summer long, and that was a primary reason why he didn't show the improvement most expected out of him during this just completed season.

I know back surgery is completely different than ankle/foot surgery, but what is the expected recovery time for both? Can we expect both Greg and Marty working hard this summer on improvement in their games? I believe the combination of hard summer work plus needed weight gains/conditioning/working on the weights will be essential for each player if Duke is to show improvement over this past season.

GMR

[willywoody]

since it's only turning april, they will likely have a couple of good months prior to beginning fall semester after recovering from surgery.


as we don't really know what injuries they had or what surgery was done any more speculation is useless.

[phaedrus]

since it's only turning april, they will likely have a couple of good months prior to beginning fall semester after recovering from surgery.

aren't you glad they got an extra couple weeks to recover from surgery?

[throatybeard]

It's a question of what you're looking for with "fully healed."

I'm not a doctor, so I'm at a loss as to whether it's anything like "all better."

[willywoody]

aren't you glad they got an extra couple weeks to recover from surgery?

after watching singler and co. tonight, it might not be such a bad thing. what's done is done, how many days till the blue-white game?