Monday, November 3, 2008
Mario Little’s injury was never supposed to be this serious.
Little arrived on campus in June with a stress fracture in his lower left leg. No one thought it was anything more than a minor nuisance.
The junior guard still played in Kansas’ three exhibition games in Canada over Labor Day weekend and scrimmaged with the team during Late Night in the Phog. Kansas coach Bill Self said he thought the stress fracture would heal in time for the season.
It didn’t. Little hasn’t practiced for the last week and is now on crutches. He won’t play in Tuesday’s exhibition game against Washburn and Self isn’t sure when Little will return.
“He’s definitely out for an extended period of time,” Self said. “Now, we don’t know if that’s two weeks from today or five weeks from today. We’re hopeful he’s a fast healer.”
It’s a tough loss for the Jayhawks. They were counting on Little, the Big 12 Preseason Newcomer of the Year, to make an immediate impact this season.
Kansas has also dealt with an injury to its other junior college transfer — junior guard Tyrone Appleton. Appleton returned to practice Thursday after missing three weeks with a hip-flexor injury.
Appleton sustained the injury during one of the last boot camp practices when he slipped while running. Appleton said although he knew he was missing valuable practice time, Self kept him positive.
“It was really frustrating,” Appleton said. “He just told me, ‘Keep a positive attitude and don’t try to rush it back — just take your time and get healthy.’”
Appleton said he was pleased with his performance since returning to practice. His teammates concurred. Junior guard Sherron Collins and freshman guard Tyshawn Taylor said Appleton was impressive coming off of his injury.
“He looked really good,” Taylor said. “Even coach Self said it.”
Appleton will play in the game against Washburn, but his minutes will be limited because he missed so many practices. As for Little, the best case scenario seems to be a return for the regular season opener on Nov. 16 against UMKC.
Self abides by the unwritten coaches’ law of not complaining about injuries. That doesn’t mean he’s downplaying their significance.
“Everybody has injuries,” Self said. “We’ve had injuries every year here, but Mario’s injury has been bigger than what most injuries would be because we desperately need him to be healthy.”
— — Edited by Arthur Hur
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