Gardner out with knee sprain

[NotAnAlum]

Just got back from the game and someone close to the program, in the position to know, said he'll be out 3 to 4 weeks.  You know his name and he perfers I not use it.

I'd find that assessment really surprising given what Buzz said in his post game.  There was nothing torn so you don't have to worry about healing.  He just has to get the swelling down to the point that he has enough flexibility and doesn't have too much pain.  Buzz said the swelling was significantly down and that is in 2 days.  Buzz and very aware (a little too aware) of what goes on on these boards.  Could be a way to spread more mis-information.  We'll see.

[dwaderoy2004]

remember when ezeli missed 10 games earlier this season for vanderbilt?  MCL sprain...

[MUDPT]

People, EVERY INJURY IS NOT THE SAME.  Festus Ezeli does not equal Davante Gardner does not equal Matt Forte.  All speculation is pure speculation at this point.  Everybody comparing themselves or their brother or friend to an injured player is also a terrible idea.  Most of us on this board are/ were not Division I athletes.  Comparing our bodies to theirs is ridiculous.

[dwaderoy2004]

that was my point.  every injury is different.  ezeli missed 10 games.  buzz says day to day.  a source says 3-4 weeks.  any could be possible...

[frozena pizza]

MCL sprains are generally classified into three grades based on severity.  It would be helpful to know what grade it was (apologize if someone posted this already).

I am hoping others will step up while he recovers and when he is back they will be stronger for it.  Every team has injuries - it's about who can overcome them.

[harigtad]

heard from an MU admin at the game that Gardner dislocated his knee cap.  Not a doctor, didnt play one on tv, didnt stay in a holiday inn express so not sure what the prognosis is.  Based on seeing him on crutches, not moving well, etc, doesnt look like he is returning soon.  Yes we will miss his inside presence but we will see if some of our other guys can step up which could help the team long term (and shouldnt hurt us too much short term while we are sitting 2nd in conf. with easier part of schedule).

[Benny B]

Sprained my MCL playing pick-up hockey.  Finished the game, swelled like a balloon after, could not walk up stairs the next morning, had an X-ray and MRI that afternoon, diagnosed an MCL sprain, given some pain meds, and told to stay off the ice for 2-3 weeks.  Went home, took the meds, iced, wrapped my knee, and was back on the ice at 9:00pm.  The pain lingered for months, but never got any worse and was completely tolerable when playing (adrenaline helped).

My sister, OTOH, not so fortunate... sprained her MCL playing basketball junior year of high school, was on crutches for over three months, eventually forced to have surgery, ending her organized basketball days.

MCL injuries don't seem to ever be clear... could mean tomorrow, might mean never again.  I really didn't get the feeling that the MCL was clearly understood in the medical world from conversations with my orthopod at the time, but maybe he just sucked.  Seems to be more information around these days, but it still is a fraction of what's available on the ACL.  Apparently ACL is the "sexy" injury... most people never heard of the MCL.  I call it the Marquette phenomenon:

"I sprained my MCL"
"Isn't that by your ACL"
"Actually, it's in Milwaukee, not Michigan."

[dwaderoy2004]

how dare you relay anecdotal information on MCL injuries.  didn't you read MUDPT's post?

[Silkk the Shaka]

heard from an MU admin at the game that Gardner dislocated his knee cap.  Not a doctor, didnt play one on tv, didnt stay in a holiday inn express so not sure what the prognosis is.  Based on seeing him on crutches, not moving well, etc, doesnt look like he is returning soon.  Yes we will miss his inside presence but we will see if some of our other guys can step up which could help the team long term (and shouldnt hurt us too much short term while we are sitting 2nd in conf. with easier part of schedule).

Agreed it might help players develop long term, but easier part of schedule?  I'll grant you DePaul and Rutgers, but @ND, Cincy, and @UConn are not exactly games we would have breezed through, even with Davante.  Add in the fact that three games separate us from 9th place, and yeah, this injury will hurt us.  Anything better than 2-3 over the next 5 and I'll be thrilled.  We went from having the inside track on 2nd place with a decent shot at 1st to hoping to hang on to a double bye.  Without Otule & Gardner, we are basically a more athletic version of the Cubillan/Acker/Hayward/Butler/DJO team with worse shooting.  Gonna hafta gut out some wins here, just like that team did.

[🏀]

Should probably just redshirt Davante.

[MUDPT]

how dare you relay anecdotal information on MCL injuries.  didn't you read MUDPT's post?

Ha.  I would bet my next paycheck that it is not an MCL sprain.  There was no video evidence (that I can remember) of a valgus stress (knee bends inwards).  If there is an MCL injury there is probably an ACL injury too on that play. 

heard from an MU admin at the game that Gardner dislocated his knee cap.  Not a doctor, didnt play one on tv, didnt stay in a holiday inn express so not sure what the prognosis is.  Based on seeing him on crutches, not moving well, etc, doesnt look like he is returning soon.  Yes we will miss his inside presence but we will see if some of our other guys can step up which could help the team long term (and shouldnt hurt us too much short term while we are sitting 2nd in conf. with easier part of schedule).

The patellar subluxation makes way more sense.  It was probably not a full dislocation since I didn't see any attempts to reduce it by Eugene after the injury.  He was actually testing the ACL from what I remember. A subluxation basically means the knee cap comes out of where it supposed to be and goes right back to where it supposed to be.  It's rather benign, for knee injuries, but can have associated patellar cartilage damage.

The 3-4 weeks thing is best estimate that I would assume who ever made this determination is probably 25% confident on.  First, Davante has to show equal range of motion side to side.  Then he has to show close to equal strength and close to equal functional strength (hop tests).  After he does that, he will be ready to play.  If that happens by Friday, he will probably play.  If that happens March 1st, he will play then.  I'm pretty sure, Davante, Buzz, Eugene, the team physicians have no definite time table on when that is going to happen.

The fans will not know when Davante will be back, simply because Buzz won't let it out. ND and DePaul both have to prepare this week that he is going to play.  That's why the university official injury listing is "day to day."  We will find out if he plays Saturday when the first person posts it here that they see him in warm-ups.

[frozena pizza]

Thanks for the update MUDPT.

I'm having flashbacks to the Dominic James injury.

[Tugg Speedman]

Should probably just redshirt Davante.

Not sure if this should be in teal .... it's too late in the season to red shirt and get an extra season for DG

[Tugg Speedman]

I'd find that assessment really surprising given what Buzz said in his post game.  There was nothing torn so you don't have to worry about healing.  He just has to get the swelling down to the point that he has enough flexibility and doesn't have too much pain.  Buzz said the swelling was significantly down and that is in 2 days.  Buzz and very aware (a little too aware) of what goes on on these boards.  Could be a way to spread more mis-information.  We'll see.

I'm only passing along what I was told by a credible source.

Wasn't the initial forecasts for Otule first day-to-day and then a few weeks?

[muarmy81]

I'm only passing along what I was told by a credible source.

Wasn't the initial forecasts for Otule first day-to-day and then a few weeks?

Yes, but nobody ever came out and said "nothing is torn" which Buzz did last night so we'll see.  I'd like to see DG back by Cincy as I think we can beat DePaul without DG...Notre Dame, on the other hand...well, probably not.

[dwaderoy2004]

I think we will take Notre Dame down with or without Gardner.  Same with Cincy at home.  We're better than they are, imo, and neither team has the length necessary to exploit our lack of height.  Gates and Cooley are no better than Herb Pope, and we handled him just fine.

[MUMac]

Ha.  I would bet my next paycheck that it is not an MCL sprain.  There was no video evidence (that I can remember) of a valgus stress (knee bends inwards).  If there is an MCL injury there is probably an ACL injury too on that play. 

I watched the DVR of that play afterwards.  I thought his knee did bend inward when viewing that.

[jsglow]

I think we will take Notre Dame down with or without Gardner.  Same with Cincy at home.  We're better than they are, imo, and neither team has the length necessary to exploit our lack of height.  Gates and Cooley are no better than Herb Pope, and we handled him just fine.

We handled Pope because we got him in foul trouble.  And he's prone to that.  We attacked him perfectly in the 2nd half.  He got his 4th with something like 13 minutes left.

[Les Nessman]

I think we should all just stop passing along what we hear from "credible sources" and stories of our own injuries and wait for an official message from the team. Right now, he's day-to-day. Anything other than that is a myster to any of us on this board, so why try to make it up.

[Tugg Speedman]

I think we should all just stop passing along what we hear from "credible sources" and stories of our own injuries and wait for an official message from the team. Right now, he's day-to-day. Anything other than that is a myster to any of us on this board, so why try to make it up.

Why?  This is a message board.  As I wrote before uninformed speculation is what we do well.  Why stop now?

[dwaderoy2004]

because this is a message board, not a fact board.  the whole point is to speculate...on the team, on injuries, on the future, on woulda, coulda, shoulda, etc.  

[dwaderoy2004]

We handled Pope because we got him in foul trouble.  And he's prone to that.  We attacked him perfectly in the 2nd half.  He got his 4th with something like 13 minutes left.

I believe it was ten minutes left, but I understand your point.  Why would we not try and do the same against Cooley and Gates?  And I would argue that neither is as skilled offensively as Pope, regardless.

[strotty]

because this is a message board, not a fact board.  the whole point is to speculate...on the team, on injuries, on the future, on woulda, coulda, shoulda, etc.  

When five different people say: 1) he should play vs. ND 2) it's a knee sprain, is questionable 3) out 1-2 weeks 4) out 3-4 weeks or 5) dislocated his knee cap....

....it makes it dumb to post anything. That's why.

[dwaderoy2004]

I still don't see how it's dumb. 

[NotAnAlum]

Wasn't the initial forecasts for Otule first day-to-day and then a few weeks?

To answer your question based on what Buzz said publicly.  NO.  Buzz immediately expressed deep concern about Chris's condition.
Buzz then said that it was hard to determine the extent of the damage due to the large amount of swelling.  Conversely in this case Buzz has said that the MRI was complete, that there was no damage and that the swelling had gone down significantly.  The public statements made by the coach were completely different in the 2 cases.
Now what you may be refering to is a picture that appeared on this board that appeared to show Chris on the court in warm-ups at the LSU game which lead many here to beleive that he might return any day.
Its possible that Buzz could be down playing this to throw everybody off But based on what has come out of his mouth He beleives the DG injury is much less serious than he ever felt Chris's was.