Amile Jefferson will not play again in 2015-16 season, seeks medical hardship

[uh_no]

Looking at our schedule, other than Utah, we don't have a tough game until 01/16 vs Notre Dame. Does anyone remember how long Ryan Kelly was out with his foot injury?

not sure when he went out, but i sure as heck remember his first game back.

[fuse]

Dear BioMedical Engineers at Pratt,

Given that Duke players and foot injuries are pretty common place, can you please clone the feet of every Duke basketball player once they step foot on campus (pun intended)?

And don't tell me it doesn't work like that! Look at what Frankenstein did with his monster!

Had this been an elective when I studied BME, that would have been pretty awesome.

[OZ]

I really hate it for Amile. No one has worked harder to get where he is today as a player and as a leader. I really hope he gets back soon because he deserves it.

[SCMatt33]

not sure when he went out, but i sure as heck remember his first game back.

Too bad that game proved to be the exception rather than the rule for him coming back. I'll reserve any optimistic or pessimistic hopes on the injury itself. I remember being at the butler game when Kyrie got hurt and thinking, at least it's only December. Not so much on that one. I also remember last year when half the team rolled their ankles at one point or another and they missed one game combined, so the luck definitely rolls both ways.

I'll be real interested to see the lineups. I'd have to imagine that Brandon is at the 4 most of the time now. I'll be more interested in seeing how much the coaches try to play Marshall 35 minutes or if they try to play Chase 10-15. If they go for Marshall playing 35, you wonder if they have enough confidence in Chase to play him in the event that Marshall fouls out, or if they'll actually try to play 4 guards and Ingram at the 5. It wouldn't be unprecedented as I seem to remember a few times where Jabari played the 5 when Jefferson fouled out in 2014 if I'm not mistaken. Granted, Jabari had more bulk as a frosh than Brandon, but Coach K has always been a best 5 guys kind of coach so you never know.

[Troublemaker]

If it turns out to be season-ending, he'll be able to medical redshirt: http://informedathlete.com/medical-hardship-waivers/

NCAA Division I – An athlete must not have participated in more than three contests or 30 percent of their season schedule (whichever is greater) and not after the halfway point of the season (based on the number of contests rather than a particular date).

Duke will play 31 games in just the regular season. 9 / 31 = 29%

[devildeac]

In the I'm much less clever than I think department:

New Crazie Cheer:

Heal, Amile (pointing to Amile)

Which can evolve against the cheaters to:

Heel (point to a cheater) follower by Amile (point to Amile)

I may only amuse myself, but somedays that is all that matters.

Wishing all the best to Amile.
His play to date has been spectacular.

Please take you hands away from the keyboard. Slowly. Now you are cordially invited to join us here for the remainder of the evening (one finger, one click):

http://forums.dukebasketballreport.c...?3840-Ymm-Beer

[OZZIE4DUKE]

5th metatarsal? Turf toe? Achilles heal? We'll know when they want us to know. Personally I'm optoemistic it's not KyrieToe.

Get well soon, Amile.

[Pghdukie]

Tuesday game could give us a better indication of the severity. Will AJ be in a cast,walking boot,crutches, walker, etc. This clue MAY give us a better sign of time off.

[Olympic Fan]

Looking at our schedule, other than Utah, we don't have a tough game until 01/16 vs Notre Dame. Does anyone remember how long Ryan Kelly was out with his foot injury?

I don't agree with your prognosis of our schedule.

Allow me to quote Pomeroy's evaluation of the upcoming games.

He gives Duke a 78 percent chance to beat Utah Saturday.

On Jan. 6, we play at Wake -- a tough place for recent Duke teams to play -- and have a 77 percent chance to win -- almost exactly the same as the neutral court Utah game.

On Jan. 13, we play Clemson in Greenville, SC, and have a 73 percent chance -- lower than vs. Utah

On Jan. 16, we pay Notre Dame in Cameron and have a 79 percent chance.

On Jan. 23, we play at NC State -- another tough place for recent Duke teams -- and have a 72 percent chance

On. Jan 25, we play at Miami and have a 45 percent chance -- it's one of three remaining games where we're not favored by Pomeroy.

The point is that the toughest games in this stretch (before the back-to-back road games at State and Miami) are at Wake and at Clemson -- even more than vs. Utah and Notre Dame. The other games in this stretch are all much more likely wins -- Georgia Southern, Elon, Long Beach State, Virginia Tech and Syracuse at home and at Boston College ... I understand that Duke is favored in all these games (at least until Miami), but not all of them are gimmies -- especially with Amile out.

[arnie]

5th metatarsal? Turf toe? Achilles heal? We'll know when they want us to know. Personally I'm optoemistic it's not KyrieToe.

Get well soon, Amile.

Just heard the report and worried it might be the 5th metatarsal plague that falls over us. But reading this thread made me realize that injury might be better - at least it heals in reasonable timeframe.

[Troublemaker]

The point is that the toughest games in this stretch (before the back-to-back road games at State and Miami) are at Wake and at Clemson -- even more than vs. Utah and Notre Dame. The other games in this stretch are all much more likely wins -- Georgia Southern, Elon, Long Beach State, Virginia Tech and Syracuse at home and at Boston College ... I understand that Duke is favored in all these games (at least until Miami), but not all of them are gimmies -- especially with Amile out.

Yep, can't take for granted any ACC road game. I'm thinking that game at Wake will especially be a bear. The Deacs beat UCLA and Indiana on a neutral court in Maui, and they'll want revenge for the epic beatdown Duke put on them in Cameron last season.

[devildeac]

Here's my (wild) guess:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisfranc_injury

Get well soon, big fella!!!!

[Saratoga2]

For Amile personally this has to be a frustrating setback as he has blossomed into one of our top players through his hard work and dedication.

For the team it is a major blow. I believe Amile is one of the two most difficult guys to replace in the lineup. His defense and rebounding and his strength yet good quickness are special. Brandon is the other of my two most difficult guys to replace and he may just be called upon to play at the 4 now. Hoping Marshall can expand his role is probably overly optimistic and Chase is still very much a learner.

Every time we do a phase report Physical Health comes first and this is a reminder of why.

[SCMatt33]

If it turns out to be season-ending, he'll be able to medical redshirt: http://informedathlete.com/medical-hardship-waivers/



Duke will play 31 games in just the regular season. 9 / 31 = 29%

So this rule turns out to be a bit more complex than I thought, but the TL;DR is that Amile should qualify for a medical redshirt if it's necessary (crossing my fingers that it's not). The full text of the 30% rule is below:

In team sports, the injury or illness occurs when the student-athlete has not participated in more than three contests or dates of competition (whichever is applicable to that sport) or 30 percent (whichever number is greater) of the institution’s scheduled or completed contests or dates of competition in his or her sport. Only scheduled or completed competition against outside participants during the playing season that concludes with the NCAA championship, or, if so designated, during the official NCAA championship playing season in that sport (e.g., spring baseball, fall soccer), shall be countable under this limitation in calculating both the number of contests or dates of competition in which the student-athlete has participated and the number of scheduled or completed contests or dates of competition during that season in the sport. Dates of competition that are exempted (e.g., alumni contests, foreign team in the United States) from the maximum permissible number of contests or dates of competition shall count toward the number of contests or dates in which the student-athlete has participated and the number of scheduled or completed contests or dates of competition in the season, except for scrimmages and exhibition contests that are specifically identified as such in the sport’s Bylaw 17 playing and practice season regulations. Scrimmages and exhibition contests that are not exempted from the maximum permissible number of contests or dates of competition may be excluded from the calculation only if they are identified as such in the sport’s Bylaw 17 playing and practice season regulations

So I read up on it because I was curious if the exhibitions would count, making it 11/33 instead of 9/31. Also even after reading this, I'm not certain whether postseason games count towards the denominator, but the two preseason exhibitions clearly fall under the Bylaw 17 exemption so Amile only counts as playing in 9. Interestingly, foreign tours are not exempt from the 30% rule. For example, I had always assumed that Alex Poythress would have been eligible for a redshirt, but he just wasn't interested. Now, I'm not sure he could have gotten it. He played in 8 regular season games, but UK played 5 games in the Bahamas that year. So if Conference and NCAA games don't count, he'd have been over the limit. If they do count, he would have come in just under the mark, 13/44=.295. What would be crazy about that would be that if he was eligible and had actually wanted it, his year of eligibility would have literally hung in the balance with Jerian Grant's game winning attempt in the elite 8 as 13/43=.302. I don't know if the NCAA games actually count, but it would be pretty nuts if a jump shot could control someone's eligibility.

[OldPhiKap]

If it turns out to be season-ending, he'll be able to medical redshirt: http://informedathlete.com/medical-hardship-waivers/



Duke will play 31 games in just the regular season. 9 / 31 = 29%

Hope this is not the case. But also good to know, if necessary, that Amile can come back for a full season.

Maybe my favorite guy on this year's team. Very sad.

[CDu]

As others have said, this sucks. Jefferson was one of our least replaceable commodities: a double-double guy who is also a terrific defender. We have plenty of bigs, but none who do what he does like he does. I suspect Jeter will see a big increase in minutes, with Plumlee, Kennard, Thornton, and Ingram seeing more minutes as well. We will probably go small more, otherwise this will really test Coach K's "we have 8 starters" statement as to truth or coachspeak. I suspect Obi and/or Vrankovic may bump up a few mpg, but not into the main rotation.

So a really young team just got MUCH younger. Let's hope the kids are up to it.

Also, let's hope the timeline for recovery is more like Ryan Kelly's rather than Irving's. If he can return by mid-February, we can have time to adjust back to his return.

Regardless, man does this stink for Jefferson. Nobody should get hurt, but it especially stinks for a kid that had paid his dues and is finally in the limelight.

[Indoor66]

Please get well soon. You are too good, too nice, to diligent and too worthy to be out long. I wish you the best.

[jipops]

Jefferson was our ONLY skilled big man. This is huge. He has been a rock on both ends of the floor. Given the lack of detail one can assume it's pretty bad. And given recent history with Kyrie and Kelly, this has shown to not bode well. I'm crushed for Amile and as a selfish fan I'm resigned to seeing my team go through a lot of struggles in the coming months.

[SupaDave]

Paging Sean Obi...

[freshmanjs]

Paging Sean Obi...

still won't play.