"Was dealing with a knee issue and wasn’t going to play on the Italy tour in a couple weeks."
Attempting to imagine the view from Ledlum's perspective while dealing with a knee issue...
1) New teammates: You know what you can do, but you still have to prove yourself to win their on-court respect.
2) Higher level of competition: You don't know if your game is up to this level, so you also have to prove yourself to yourself. You're testing your own game on the court, knowing you need to quickly identify any parts of your Harvard game that will have to be discarded or upgraded for the SEC.
3) New defensive system/expectations: Although you're older, in this area you're now learning with the freshmen.
4) New environment/culture: Getting off campus normally provides new players some relief, some down time to relieve stress, and just be yourself for awhile. But Knoxville ain't Boston, and being off campus might become yet another challenge, maybe even getting under your skin that here's another way you don't naturally fit in. And good luck finding someone with DoorDash in Knoxville who can bring you a Cherry Frappe!
5) Being a part of a team might be your only stable identity for the moment.
And they're heading off to Italy to further bond with each other.
I have no idea if any of this reflects Ledlum's actual experience here, but it's definitely not hard to imagine.
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On the positive side, if JJJ is blessed with an injury-free season, we will witness a show we'll talk about for years to come!
