Voc

[OldPony]

Is Voc's injury one that he will never get back to 100%? If not, what are his chances of being the player we thought he might become.

[PX]

Do you want me to repeat what I've been saying for the last 2 years?

[BTPony]

Please do. I'm interested in his status/prognosis.

[OldPony]

PX- I know that you have told us that he wouldn't be much of a force this year but I forgot what you said about long term. Please bear with OldPony, his mind isn't as good as he used to pretend it was.

[PX]

To sum it up quickly, what you see now is what you get. His knee joint has made as much progress as it is going to. He may be able to strengthen the muscles above the knee, but the connective tissue of the joint is not going to improve. Some of the other injuries he's had to work through, his back and the pulled hamstring, are possibly related to the knee, as different muscle groups are overworked to compensate for a joint that isnt fully functional.
I cant speak for other people, because I dont know what their expectations were, but Voc isnt going to be the player I thought he could be when first committed to us. I dont say that to put the guy down, he's worked his butt off just to come back and get back on the court, but sometimes a strong heart cant overcome a physical weakness. His freshman year it was clear that he didnt have full range of motion and didnt heal fully after his first injury. A 2nd injury to the same knee usually leads to chronic problems for any athlete, and the length of time it took Voc before he could even begin to do rehab work was a bad sign.
Dont expect more progress, the joint isnt going to be the same. Period. Speaking for myself, I really wasnt sure if he would play at all this year, and I'm happy he made it through the season without blowing out the knee a 3rd time.

I should add the caveat that I am not Vocs doctor. I've never examined him. What I'm saying comes from my owm observtaion, and experience with inuries.

[OldPony]

Thanks for posting that again. I thought he would be a very good player. Maybe his toughness in the rehab will inspire some of the younger guys to put forth the same kind of effort on the weights this year.