mudcat1973
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Juju
- Thread starter westtnvoljackson
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knoxvol52
Nevermind me, I'm just a Commoner.
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knoxvol52
Nevermind me, I'm just a Commoner.
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Aaah but what if they change the rules about going Pro early in WNBA. Never say never. International players can be draft eligible at 20 years old. You really believe they will not change the rules for U.S. born players?
BTW: the rule for U.S. born players is stupid, why not just let these young ladies make their own decisions when to go pro. WNBA needs these players to promote the League.
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madtownvol
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When you watch in real time, she was not trying to Euro step but got knocked off balance in stride which led to the over extension- again just Cam Brink.
Per CC, where do you think her outside leg goes on the next step?
Couple more for ya". Really ideal body mechanics on the last one.
Ironically, one Clark's distinguishing talents is that she is like Steve Nash, who was a body contortionist who could make all kinds of off-balance plays. She is a great Kinesthetic sense of how to get her shoulders and upper body square while her legs and lower body are leaning in a different direction.
madtownvol
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madtownvol
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VintageFan
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JuJu has one aspect of marketability that Clark didn't have: playing in a major sports and television market. It's the same element that mkaes UConn's stars a little brighter -- not that they don't deserve it. All you have to do is look at the headlines this morning and the openings of the major sports talk shows.
madtownvol
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VintageFan
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Glad to see that Maple raised the possibility that JuJu's injury last night could have been related to her earlier ankle injury on Saturday. I feel the same way.
After watching JuJu suffering what appeared to be a fairly significant ankle twist I was surprised to see her listed as "probable" for Monday's game. But I assumed that this was just to avoid giving the Miss. State coach information he could use to strategize. But I was stunned when I tuned in to the game list night and they confirmed she was starting.
My surprise was for several reasons. One, it's been my experience that a bad ankle twist takes more than a day or two to heal. And if they held JuJu out she would have had an additional five days to get to be as close to 100% as you can be this late in the season. Second, there was no chance ninth-seeded Miss. State was going to be competitive with USC's tall and athletic squad on their home court, even without JuJu.
It appeared even the announcers were a bit surprised. They referenced JuJu's hand and ankle injuries and then the USC coach's comments to the effect of "Well, she says she's okay to play, so what am I going to say?" (How about "No!" coach?) Then the one announcer said "Well, she seemed okay in warmups." (But everybody looks good in warmups!)
As the ESPN camera shifted to show the USC team coming out of the locker room tunnel I detected an outright limp by JuJu. I even quickly backed up the video (I record every NCAA women's game) and watched it again. Confirmed. (Check the video if you can find it.)
As I watched JuJu as the game started she seemed to be favoring the bad ankle a bit, but it was hard to tell, even on replay. And perhaps once she warmed up it wasn't bothering her. Of course I didn't get to watch her long before she went down in what still looks like to me a non-contact injury.
Now I'll admit that hindsight is 20-20 and I'm second guessing. But I'll bet the USC coach and trainer have been second guessing too. My past experience with women's basketball has led me to believe that when a player plays with a lower leg injury there is a much higher risk than normal of another, possibly greater, injury. And I confirmed that with a former scholastic player who is now a top-level athletic trainer and fitness instructor. (In fairness, she also added that in today's super-competitive college environment there is a fairly significant risk of injury -- including ACL tears -- by aggressive players in seemingly perfect condition. But that risk was greater by far if their body was worn out or injured.)
Now teen-aged superstars are competition-driven and they'll always want to be playing, even if they're not 100%. So it's up to their coaches and trainers -- and even sometimes their parents! -- to know better. I'm not saying that's definitely the case here -- but I'm suspicious.
It was USC's last home game for the season. A sell-out crowd with tickets being scalped for hundreds of dollars. ESPN had been hyping the prime-time nationally broadcast game for two days and JuJu had been in all their promos and it seemed like in every other ESPN commercial during the whole tournament. Let's be honest: People wanted and expected to see JuJu play.
That should NOT have been a factor in whether the coach decided to play her. But was it? Was an additional risk accepted? Was the reward gained equal to the risk of this talented player's career and the team's chances of making the Final Four or even better? Or adversely affecting the potential success of next year's team? We'll never know.
I honestly don't bring this up to criticize the coach because I don't have enough information. But I do so because I think other coach's and trainers at all levels of Girls' and Womens' basketball need to be more conscious of this issue and the decision's they make.
When an average player on an average team blows out a knee it's seldom more than a footnote in the national media and a "too bad" from an announcer broadcasting the game. But JuJu's prominence, and the notoriety and circumstances of her injury seem like a good opportunity to give this issue the attention I believe it deserves.
USC may rally, beat UConn and win it all. Wouldn't that be a great story for ESPN? I'm sure they'll play that up in their promos and then lots of camera pans to JuJu on crutches during the games. And you almost have to feel sorry for the UConn players who were looking for a rematch to prove themselves who will now be the "bad guys" if they win. (Okay, you don't!)
Like everyone who follow women's basketball I wish the best for JuJu on what will be a long, tough road back. She'll get encouragement from many of the players who have gone through the ACL recovery and rehab process in just the last few years. But that's really the tragedy.
There's simply too many of them.
After watching JuJu suffering what appeared to be a fairly significant ankle twist I was surprised to see her listed as "probable" for Monday's game. But I assumed that this was just to avoid giving the Miss. State coach information he could use to strategize. But I was stunned when I tuned in to the game list night and they confirmed she was starting.
My surprise was for several reasons. One, it's been my experience that a bad ankle twist takes more than a day or two to heal. And if they held JuJu out she would have had an additional five days to get to be as close to 100% as you can be this late in the season. Second, there was no chance ninth-seeded Miss. State was going to be competitive with USC's tall and athletic squad on their home court, even without JuJu.
It appeared even the announcers were a bit surprised. They referenced JuJu's hand and ankle injuries and then the USC coach's comments to the effect of "Well, she says she's okay to play, so what am I going to say?" (How about "No!" coach?) Then the one announcer said "Well, she seemed okay in warmups." (But everybody looks good in warmups!)
As the ESPN camera shifted to show the USC team coming out of the locker room tunnel I detected an outright limp by JuJu. I even quickly backed up the video (I record every NCAA women's game) and watched it again. Confirmed. (Check the video if you can find it.)
As I watched JuJu as the game started she seemed to be favoring the bad ankle a bit, but it was hard to tell, even on replay. And perhaps once she warmed up it wasn't bothering her. Of course I didn't get to watch her long before she went down in what still looks like to me a non-contact injury.
Now I'll admit that hindsight is 20-20 and I'm second guessing. But I'll bet the USC coach and trainer have been second guessing too. My past experience with women's basketball has led me to believe that when a player plays with a lower leg injury there is a much higher risk than normal of another, possibly greater, injury. And I confirmed that with a former scholastic player who is now a top-level athletic trainer and fitness instructor. (In fairness, she also added that in today's super-competitive college environment there is a fairly significant risk of injury -- including ACL tears -- by aggressive players in seemingly perfect condition. But that risk was greater by far if their body was worn out or injured.)
Now teen-aged superstars are competition-driven and they'll always want to be playing, even if they're not 100%. So it's up to their coaches and trainers -- and even sometimes their parents! -- to know better. I'm not saying that's definitely the case here -- but I'm suspicious.
It was USC's last home game for the season. A sell-out crowd with tickets being scalped for hundreds of dollars. ESPN had been hyping the prime-time nationally broadcast game for two days and JuJu had been in all their promos and it seemed like in every other ESPN commercial during the whole tournament. Let's be honest: People wanted and expected to see JuJu play.
That should NOT have been a factor in whether the coach decided to play her. But was it? Was an additional risk accepted? Was the reward gained equal to the risk of this talented player's career and the team's chances of making the Final Four or even better? Or adversely affecting the potential success of next year's team? We'll never know.
I honestly don't bring this up to criticize the coach because I don't have enough information. But I do so because I think other coach's and trainers at all levels of Girls' and Womens' basketball need to be more conscious of this issue and the decision's they make.
When an average player on an average team blows out a knee it's seldom more than a footnote in the national media and a "too bad" from an announcer broadcasting the game. But JuJu's prominence, and the notoriety and circumstances of her injury seem like a good opportunity to give this issue the attention I believe it deserves.
USC may rally, beat UConn and win it all. Wouldn't that be a great story for ESPN? I'm sure they'll play that up in their promos and then lots of camera pans to JuJu on crutches during the games. And you almost have to feel sorry for the UConn players who were looking for a rematch to prove themselves who will now be the "bad guys" if they win. (Okay, you don't!)
Like everyone who follow women's basketball I wish the best for JuJu on what will be a long, tough road back. She'll get encouragement from many of the players who have gone through the ACL recovery and rehab process in just the last few years. But that's really the tragedy.
There's simply too many of them.
madtownvol
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My daughter is in the bio-mechanics field and when she looked at the replays, she also felt the injury actually started with JuJu's ankle plant. Her ankled rolled in and then her knee catastrophically flexed out.
Often, trying to ascertain why an ACL happens is pretty much a crap shoot among any number of possible causes but in this case, a weak ankle seems to have been a contributing factor.
On the flipside, athletes come back into action quickly from ankle sprains all the time and most don't result in an ACL injury. Unfortunately, JuJu was caught in a perfect storm situation.
Gender Differences Mean More Knee Injuries for Women | Cedars-Sinai
Women athletes are twice as likely to tear their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) as men, a figure that varies by sport. Dr. Natasha Trentacosta, a Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine expert explains neuromuscular differences in men and women, and being...
www.cedars-sinai.org
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