Wednesday, October 22, 2008
This isn’t a eulogy for Kansas’ 2008-09 season. Rather, it’s the last respects for the preseason excitement that was budding around Bonnie ball.
We hardly knew ye.
As a disappointing season came to its disappointing end in the NIT, I heard the prophecy that an Angel was coming to save the Jayhawks.
Angel Goodrich, a 5-foot-4 fireball out of Tahlequah, Okla., signed with Kansas as the No. 9 point guard in the country, according to ESPN/Hoopgurls.com.
She was going to be a lightning rod for the Jayhawk offense — the piece of the puzzle coach Bonnie Henrickson so desperately needed.
Goodrich was going to be a mash-up of Kansas’ current point guards, combining LaChelda Jacobs’ athleticism with Ivana Catic’s floor leadership. She flashed some of that potential at Late Night in the Phog, scoring four points and dishing a sweet assist to Danielle McCray for a crucial three-pointer.
However, my stomach turned with one text message early Tuesday morning. Three hours later Henrickson confirmed the grim news at an impromptu press conference.
“Having been excited about Late Night for about 48 hours, one hour into practice Sunday, Angel Goodrich tore her ACL,” Henrickson said.
For the second time in less than a year, Henrickson lost a promising freshman point guard to an unpredictable practice injury.
On Feb. 5, freshman Chakeitha Weldon jump-stopped to avoid a teammate and then fell to the ground in intense pain.
Weldon decided in September to continue her basketball rehab closer to home, transferring to Appalachian State. Angel’s presence on the team eased the loss.
At Sunday’s practice, Kansas’ third of the season, Goodrich crossed over to her left hand and made the jump-stop that will haunt her for six months of rehab.
Weldon tore her right anterior cruciate ligament; Goodrich tore her left. Neither player made any contact with a teammate during her injury.
It’s a devastating loss for a team that hasn’t played a game, and even more so for one that went through the same thing last season. Henrickson was visibly distraught Tuesday.
“At media day I said I wouldn’t hide my excitement for what I thought she could do for our program, and I’m not going to try to hide my disappointment for her,” Henrickson said. “For her and her family, that’s just not a very fun part of this profession.”
Goodrich isn’t alone in her pain. She’s the third Big 12 player to tear an ACL this preseason, and Weldon is just a phone call away if Goodrich wants a comrade-in-knees to talk to.
It’s a long road back to the court and it officially begins with surgery next week. Goodrich will go under the knife in Lawrence, but before she does, she must strengthen herself as fast as possible to make the first few weeks of recovery easier.
“She’ll start some rehab today,” Henrickson said. “Prehab, they call it.”
That means prehabilitation in the preseason and a long regular season of rehabilitation.
I have no doubt that the feisty little guard will work her way out of this rut, but I don’t know that this year’s team will do the same.
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