Gray will miss rest of season

[jimsumner]

From Duke

"Duke University head coach Joanne P. McCallie announced junior point guard Chelsea Gray will miss the rest of the 2012-13 campaign due to a right knee cap dislocation that requires surgery to repair, following a MRI on Monday. No time table for her return has been set."

[Bob Green]

Jim, Thanks for the update even though it is bad. Hopefully the women can adjust quickly to Gray's absence. As you stated in an earlier post, it is time for Jones to step up.

[Lid]

Thanks for the update. When it happened, I assumed (like most people at Cameron, I think) that she was done for the year. The lack of news yesterday wasn't encouraging.

Well, shoot.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the team is inspired to step up in her absence, and I feel certain that she'll do everything she can to help from the bench. I'm really sad that we won't see her play again this year -- there's nothing like that moment when you realize you're about to see a Chelsea Pass.

[MCFinARL]

Tough break for the team and even more for Chelsea. Best wishes for a successful surgery and a full recovery.

[roywhite]

Tough break for the team and even more for Chelsea. Best wishes for a successful surgery and a full recovery.

+1

Are there a greater number of injuries and more serious injuries in recent years in both MBB and WBB, or does it just seem that way?

Bigger, stronger, faster = more stress than joints can handle?

[-bdbd]

At least it doesn't appear to be any serious ligament damage. So a full recovery for next year sounds very promising. Best wishes to Chelsea for a speedy AND FULL recovery.

[grossbus]

the REAL Duke curse is the seemingly unending string of injuries striking both men's and women's programs.

i knew jabari was coming to Duke well before he announced simply because he had already had his foot injury.

[noworries]

+1

Are there a greater number of injuries and more serious injuries in recent years in both MBB and WBB, or does it just seem that way?

Bigger, stronger, faster = more stress than joints can handle?

This is my exact thought...bigger stronger and faster is good, but when the body can't withstand the greater amount of force, more serious injuries occur...just my two cents

also, the first report I saw was knee dislocation, which is wayyyy worse...hope she has a speedy recovery!

[cspan37421]

My son had this exact same injury a year ago ... and again, last June. He ended up having surgery and is back playing.

This injury can happen without contact at all, and apparently often does. The risk does not necessary correspond to the "bigger, stronger, faster" notion cited here. Much of the risk is a function of the particular anatomy of the person's knee. As his surgeon explained to us, the kneecap may be positioned (relatively) high, low, or centered on the knee. There is a range of "normality", much like some people have big noses, small ears, or vice-versa. In the case of patellar dislocation, a high-positioned kneecap is a risk factor for injury - and my son had it. I asked if I had it, since I had knee trouble when young as well, but I'd have had to gotten some imaging to really tell. You can't tell, he said, just by looking at it from the outside.

Other than the bone structure of the individual, the relative laxity of the ligaments is a big factor. Indeed, in my son's surgery, one of his ligaments was "tightened up" to help maintain the position of the patella in its groove.

My main point is that for this particular injury, the risk appears to be largely a function of the hand you're dealt in life, physiologically. It's dumb luck, not that you're following too tough a physical regimen.

[throatybeard]

This reminds me of 2000. We beat UNC by 42 points in the game in question. But I was standing near the baseline when I hear the sound that Peppi Browne's knee made. And that was that.

[msdukie]

This reminds me of 2000. We beat UNC by 42 points in the game in question. But I was standing near the baseline when I hear the sound that Peppi Browne's knee made. And that was that.

Yup, but then we won our first ACC Championship...stay tuned.

[OldPhiKap]

Prayers for a full and quick recovery

[CameronBlue]

the REAL Duke curse is the seemingly unending string of injuries striking both men's and women's programs.

i knew jabari was coming to Duke well before he announced simply because he had already had his foot injury.

It's this guy's fault (http://www.wimp.com/dramaticlipsync/)

[heyman25]

the REAL Duke curse is the seemingly unending string of injuries striking both men's and women's programs.

i knew jabari was coming to Duke well before he announced simply because he had already had his foot injury.

Duke has injuries every season, but the full allocation of scholarships is rarely used by Coach K. Anyone close to the program know why? It impacts practices as well as the games, not having enough healthy players..

[jimsumner]

Duke has injuries every season, but the full allocation of scholarships is rarely used by Coach K. Anyone close to the program know why? It impacts practices as well as the games, not having enough healthy players..

Because he's not going to play 13 players.

Let me relate a conversation I had with Bill Foster, who also rarely used his full allocation of scholarships, 15 in those days.

Foster said that he needed more players to practice than he could play in games. So, at the end of the bench he could have recruited players who expected to play, weren't playing, were unhappy about it and complained about it all the time. And then transferred.

Or he could have walk-ons who were happy to be there and brought that happiness to every practice and every game.

Two of Foster's last three classes at Duke consisted of a single recruited player. But he had walk-ons like Bruce Bell, Rob Hardy, Larry Linney, Geoff Northrup and Jim Corrigan, all happy to be there.

It's different for the women. They have 15 scholarships and players don't leave early for the pros, although they do transfer. By the same token, the women have male practice players, so they don't have to fill out the roster to have enough players to practice. Jenna Frush is the first women's walk-on in years.

So, it's a delicate balancing act between too few and too many. Just right is hard to come by.

[Kedsy]

Two of Foster's last three classes at Duke consisted of a single recruited player.

Are you counting the high school class of 1980 as a Foster class? Because he jumped ship before the recruiting was over. Plus I thought McNeely was a Coach K recruit, no? And for the 1977 and 1979 high school classes we had 3 or 4 recruits each.

[jimsumner]

Are you counting the high school class of 1980 as a Foster class? Because he jumped ship before the recruiting was over. Plus I thought McNeely was a Coach K recruit, no? And for the 1977 and 1979 high school classes we had 3 or 4 recruits each.

Meant to say twice in a three-year period, Gminski in '76 and Taylor in '78.

[MCFinARL]

It's this guy's fault (http://www.wimp.com/dramaticlipsync/)

Okay, that is really scary.

[ynotme32]

I'm unable to watch the Maryland game today, but looking at the box score at halftime it shows Gray with 1 steal.....is she playing or is that a mistake and should be credited to another player?

[DU82]

I'm unable to watch the Maryland game today, but looking at the box score at halftime it shows Gray with 1 steal.....is she playing or is that a mistake and should be credited to another player?

Last game she was credited with an assist. ESPN's on the ball, aren't they? :-)

(No, she didn't play.)

[rasputin]

I guess I'm already supposed to know this, but can someone translate what's on the shirt Chelsea has been wearing at the games?