Having been teaching orthopedics and sports injuries for 20 years here’s the initial impression.

First off x-rays are essentially useless in this scenario and none of us should take solace in these initial reports. They wont even pick up the type injury this early that Harangody has. The only potential positive is in reading between the lines as the training staff reporting this as good news to lay people really suggests the inital orthopedic evaluation was a good one without any instabilty aka major ligament ruptures. However, MRI tells all and will find out if there’s any partial tears in the ligaments in the area, the tendons or other soft tissue supporting structures.

Also it distinguishes very well cartilage type injuries such as involving the Harangody type of issue which injures what is known as the hyaline cartilage lining of bones that can get injured with trauma but heals quickly (vs. other ortho injuries). That could be the scenario here if he planted/landed wrong and/or twisted his knee.

The other type of cartilage injury to what is known as fibrocartilage is when you hear referred to as “torn cartilage” relates to meniscus injuries which essentially are the “shock absorber” and cushioning in the knee between the upper leg bone (femur) and the lower leg bone (tibia). Often torn just partially which he could play through albeit with somewhat diminished capacity ala Terrence Roberts from a few years ago. A total tear through is different and he’s done for the year.

Though I didn’t get to analyze and see the replay exactly enough, the initial impression based on the mechanism of injury and how it happened leads to some optomism. From what I could tell he didn’t get hit and rather he twisted it in landing a bit. Most significantly and positively was that I could see the orthopedic eval. on him and everything looked intact when they stressed the ACL and MCL. Again this is what they probably informed the family of in conjunction with the negative x-rays. And again we’ll need to wait to see the MRI to see if there’s any partial tears because the ortho eval. wouldn’t be positive likely in this scenario.

His reaction was appropriate especially coupled with a patient who has a history of knee injuries, hears a “pop” and feels the very real physical pain of what essentially is a twisting of the knee. The prolonged pain and the way he was helped off the court is a cause for concern. That being said the poping in an of itself isn’t a huge deal as every joint including the knee has several ranges of motion associated with it before failure of supporting ligaments. Like with cracking your own knuckles if moved a certain way every joint can pop (or cavitate in technical terms) and this is not suggestive for injury in and of itself.

If accompanied by positive orthopedic findings and later then MRI then of course it is associated with severe injury. But the pop itself isn’t. For example with the ranges of motion aspect of joints extend your middle finger backward until you cant go anymore (that’s the active range of motion), then when it can go no further grab the finger between the thumb of the index finger of the other hand with the index finger near the top and the thumb on the other side at the base and pull back gently and watch it move more (that’s the passive range of motion associated with joints). Then when hitting a barrier gently pull further into what’s called the accessory joint play motion area and you’ll hear a pop. Anyfurther goes beyond the joint limits of anatomic integrity and causes ligament damage.

All joints have this motion associated with it but rarely are extended that far so the fact he heard a pop isn’t worrysome to me, again, especially combined with an negative orthopedic evaluation. And as an aside this is why most teams have some sort of therapist to regain these ranges of motion since it’s not a dramatic leap of logic to suggest this can lead to improved performance on the field/court when having full motions in ones joints.

So long story short based on the way it looked like it happened combined with what we know so far is worst case scenario is he has a Harogody tyype deal, a partial grade 2 tear of ligament(s), a complete tear of the meniscal cartilage, a dislocated patella out of the groove it rides in, or finally a tear of his patella tendon. All of these would keep him out for the remainder of the year.

More likely I think is a sprain of one the ligaments (grade 1) which will show up negative for any tear on the MRI (with maybe only a little associated swelling), a partial tear of the meniscal cartilage, a transitory partial dislocation of the patella (partially in and out quickly), or even just a tweaking of the knee joint hyperextension like without any structural damage at all except for a little short term swelling (essentially less than a grade one sprain); all of which can cause short term significant pain. With any of these he can play albeit probably being a little gun shy at first. So looked at in its totality the mechanism of injury is in his favor along with the fact that the initial ortho eval looked positive. It likely looked more serious than the damage will hopefully turn out to be and I think he’ll be back although somewhat hampered by the nagging nature of it.

* LB Malcolm Cater
* LB Lewellyn Coker
* TE Charlie Copa
* LB Myles Davis
* RB Prince-Tyson Gulley
* OL Sean Hickey
* QB John Kinder
* WR Jeremiah Kobena
* PK Ross Krautman
* OL Macky MacPherson
* WR Steven Rene
* DL Micah Robinson
* RB Jerome Smith
* RB Dom Timbers
* LB Mario Tull
* TE Beckett Wales
* DB Jeremi Wilkes

Also, here are the players that are already enrolled for Spring classes:

* DE Max Beaulieu
* TE Jose Cruz
* WR Anthony Weaver
* OT Michael Hay
* S Olando Fisher
* LB Marquis Spruill
* LB Brice Hawkes

Here is mine:

1. Kentucky
2. Syracuse
3. Villanova
4. Kansas
5. Texas
6. Michigan St.
7. Duke
8. West Virginia
9. Gonzaga
10. Brigham Young
11. Kansas State
12. Connecticut
13. Pittsburgh
14. Georgetown
15. Purdue
16. Temple
17. Tennessee
18. Wisconsin
19. Butler
20. Mississippi
21. Clemson
22. Georgia Tech
23. Vanderbilt
24. Ohio State
25. Northern Iowa

Triche is playing poorly also. He’s trying to do too much with the ball in his hands, and is very inconsistent. Scoop seems like the more consistent point guard as of late, but it seems like JB is dead set on keeping Triche as the starter. He must see something special in him at practices.

Scoop should have played way more in this game. Even JB in his post game conference said that Scoop has the right to be upset over the lack of playing time in the second half, since he was clearly the better choice. but JB wanted to give Triche an opportunity to get out of his slump. It seems like he’s been given many of the same opportunities the past few games.

Both Arinze and Rick had average games. They played well at times, but just could not connect on a ton of easy layups. The shots that they are missing are not characteristic of either of them, and I’m sure they’ll get back on track. I’m not too concerned.

Wes had a good game. Almost every game so far, I’m surprised when I see his stats at the end of the game. The whole game I feel that he’s been quit, then at the end of the game, it shows him having something like 18 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. He’s a very quiet stat stuffer. I still think that he should be getting the ball in his hands more often, as well as be more assertive with the ball in his hands.

Kris Joseph had a quiet first half, but was a stud in the second. He was one of the main reasons we won handily last night. His progression from last season has been phenominal, and I can only imagine what he will be like in his senior year. I definitely see him in the NBA one day. Wes should take a page out of Kris’ playbook and try to attack the basket like Kris. He will be a star in Cuse his last 2 years.

Defensively, they played OK. Even though Memphis only scored 25 int he 2nd half, it was more so because of Memphis simply not attacking the zone. Memphis resorted to throwing up long 3 pointers in the second half when they probably didn’t have to. We didn’t force that many turnovers either.

Also, did anybody see JB’s post game conference? He was not happy AT ALL. He said that he saw almost nothing that he liked out there last night, and they have a lot to improve and work on. Obviously it wasn’t our best game, but we still won by 17 against a good Memphis team that brought Kansas down to the wire. Maybe he’s starting to expect more out of these guys because he knows what they are capable of.

Next game is against USF on 1/10.

Also, there are 2 Cuse performances in the Top College Basketball performances of the 2000′s: Gerry McNamara’s heroics in the 2006 Big East Tournament, and Carmelo Anthony’s performance in the 2003 Final Four.

Gerry’s BET Heroics

Carmelo’s Final Four performance

Also, just a hint for fellow Syracuse fans, don’t look at the Top Upsets page…

Syracuse played a great game against Florida on Thursday, beating them 85-73. This was the most that Syracuse has been challenged so far in the still young season, and was also the closest final score as well. The Gators battled early. Their 5-8 point guard, Erving Walker, started the game off with a steal or two, as well as a long 3 pointer. They also played against the zone pretty well. They did a decent job of getting the ball to the high post and hitting the jump shot in the first half. Early in the second half though, Boeheim made the Syracuse center (either Jackson or Onuaku) come up on the high post player and force him to pass. That is where they faltered. They could not effectively make the pass from the high post to the low post. As a result, they were forced to simply chuck up LONG 3 pointers late. They hit a few to get themselves back into the game, and even take the lead for all of 8 seconds, but the shots eventually inevitably stopped falling.

Syracuse as a whole played OK. They played great defensively, but only did enough to win offensively. Wes Johnson didn’t have his best game. He wasn’t hitting his jump shots early on, and forced a few passes that he shouldn’t have. I feel that he needs to try to get to the basket more so he can go to the free throw line, but his handle isn’t exactly impressive. He did pick it up a bit in the 2nd half, ending up still beating his averages for the game. Rick Jackson picked up any slack that he needed to though. Rick simply had a career game, totaling 21 points (16 in the first half) as well as 11 rebound (7 of which were offensive.) Florida simply had no answer for his reverse left-handed lay up. It was so bad, the commentators compared the Florida big men to Taylor Swift, OUCH.

Rautins, even though he had an average at best game on the offensive side of the ball, his defense and leadership was outstanding. He didn’t tally any steals, but he forced a lot during traps. This shows in the stats, as Syracuse forced 13 steals total.

Triche and Jardine played pretty well. Triche did a great job in the first half handling the press, even though he had a rough start to the game with a turnover or two. Jardine looked pretty bad in the first half, and seemed like he wasn’t quick enough off the dribble to beat Walker. Jardine did much better in the 2nd half handling the press, and Boeheim noticed. He logged more minutes than Scoop did in the second half.

Kris Joseph had an outstanding game, and not many people even noticed. 12 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes, which is the 3rd highest out of all players on the team. Boeheim obviously sees something in Joseph, as he plays more minutes that our starters almost every game.

The balance on this team is special, as we had 3 players have double-double’s, and we’ve had multiple players be our leading scorer in each game so far.

All in all, the Orange did enough to win against a good Florida team with good defense and leadership.

Leave a comment to say what score you got!

The Orange are now ranked #8 in the AP poll, and #7 in the Coaches poll as of 11/30. Later tonight, they’ll take on the Colgate Raiders, who has yet to win a game. They did give UConn a decent effort in the first half of the first game of the season, but they haven’t looked as good since.

This will be the 162nd time that these two programs meet, and Syracuse has won the last 44. It doesn’t look like Colgate will be ending that losing streak this year, as they only have 2 people that can consistently score. If Syracuse plays their game, it should be a 20 point victory.

If the game is over early, I would like to see the combination of Triche, Mookie, KJo, and Riley, with whoever you want in at the 4. This group is the future of this program, so having them get some chemistry together would be nice. I was impressed with Dashonte Riley against Columbia. He looked pretty good, and it would be great to see him get more playing time to gain some much needed experience. Riley is raw now, but he will be very good in a year or two, especially next to Fab Melo.

Final Prediction: SU 82 Colgate 58

http://tangotwo.smugmug.com/Rutgers-Football/Rutgers-vs-Syracuse-112109

What a great week it has been to be a Syracuse fan. Not only did the basketball team catapult up the rankings to #9/#10, but on Saturday, the football team completely manhandled the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 31-13.

Now, being a Syracuse fan from NJ, with a Father and a Brother that are both rabid Rutgers fans, this win is even more satisfying. I’ve had to listen to a whole lot of garbage the past 4 years that Rutgers had beat up on Syracuse, but this year the original pecking order of the Big East was restored, at least for a little while anyway.

At the beginning of the season, after seeing Syracuse lose in OT to Minnesota, play tough with Penn State, and beat Northwestern, I thought that this could be the year that we beat Rutgers again. That was until a couple of weeks ago, when everything started to come apart. Multiple players were suspended, one of which was Mike Williams, who quit, and then pretty much all of our talent on defense was bit by the injury bug. Arthur Jones and Derrell Smith, both future NFL players, were proclaimed out for the season, as well as Max Suter and a couple of others on offense.

Then they go into Louisville. The defense played great for most of the game, but c’mon, it was Louisville. And it was also quickly evident that we had no passing game without Mike Williams. The Orange ended up losing to Louisville by 1, 10-9. To make things even worse, we should have had 10 points if it weren’t for a bad snap on an extra point. it seemed like Syracuse was back to square one.

Having said all this, there was no way Syracuse would even be able to compete with Rutgers, right? With all of the injuries, suspensions, and quitting going on, how could they? Well, they no only competed, they dominated Rutgers. The Orange quickly ran out to a 14-0 lead. Schiano had no answer for the counters, misdirections, options, and reverses that Syracuse was throwing at them.

Then there was the Orange defense. The defensive play was absolutely astounding. The blitz packages thrown at Freshman QB Tom Savage completely shut down the Rutgers offense. The only touchdown that the defense let up was a result of Doug Marrone trying to catch Rutgers off guard by doing an onside kick. The Scarlet Knights recovered, and the next play on offense, Rutgers WR Sanu passed to WR Tim Brown on a reverse for a TD. Other than that play, which one could argue was a result of the onside kick since it put the defense in a bad position, the Scarlet Knights were completely shut down on the offensive side of the ball.

Even when Rutgers make a drive to get into field goal range, Syracuse always answered with sacks and turnovers to stop Rutgers from getting points. The Orange totaled 9 sacks on the day, led by former running back Doug Hogue. It seemed like every time Rutgers dropped back to pass, there was an orange helmet in his face. I mean, has anybody ever seen as many 3rd/4th and 45′s in 1 game than what they saw on Saturday?

It seemed to me like Rutgers was not only out played, but out coached. Syracuse’s gameplan worked to perfection against Rutgers, and Rutgers just simply was not prepared. Even Schiano admitted that Syracuse did things that they simply did not prepare for, and it showed. Syracuse’s defense blitzed almost every play, and Rutgers simply did not know how to counter it. This was never more evident than the last 2 drives for Rutgers. After Rutgers drove into Syracuse’s territory, they were sacked multiple times to force a 4th and 45 situation. Then, on the last drive for Rutgers, Syracuse sacked them 3 consecutive times, eventually forcing Rutgers to punt from the 1 yard line.

The future for this team looks very bright. It seems like the team is buying into Marrone’s plan for the program (other than the ones that quit…) and their enthusiasm showed on Saturday.

Along with the inspiration that the players got from this win, it will also help with recruiting. Under G-Rob, we lost so many potential recruits to Rutgers. Now, we have some type of leverage on them, at least for the next year.

After watching this team all year, I would be surprised if they didn’t make a bowl next year. They could very well have a 7-5 type of record, or even better. On offense, we’ll have the same running duo in Carter and Bailey (who are both VERY good,) as well as some receivers that got some very needed experience this season and a QB in Nassib that got a lot of PT as well. On defense, Doug Hogue has proved to be a monster, as well as Chandler Jones on the D-Line and the Thomases and Suter have proved to be very capable of being great players.

Remember also, if we win next week against UConn (not going to be easy) we will have a 5-7 record, which would be better than every year under G-Rob, as well as only being an extra point and an overtime interception away from being 7-5. Think about that.

GO ORANGE.