Kate Morse tore ACL

[carolann]

According to the AP report, the Cincinnati win came with a high cost. " Nebraska had only eight healthy players available for the game and starting center Katie Morse tore her ACL with 8:10 to play and is expected to miss the rest of the season." This is unbelievable. It looked like Katie Morse was going to have her best year as a player at Nebraska. Very bad news for Nebraska, obviously.

[Jennifer]

That's just horrible. I hope she is able to get a medical redshirt and not lose this year of elgibility.
I truly hope this is the last time this season this happens...

[mred]

This is horrible news for Nebraska (and the rest of the conference for that matter).

The rule is that the player cannot have played in either 20% or 25% of her teams games. I don't recall which it is. She played in 7 games, to the team must play in either 28 or 35 games for her to be eligible for a medical redshirt. They are scheduled for 27 games before the big 12 tournament, so they are guaranteed 28. I'll try to find out if the limit is 20% or 25%.

[mred]

It seems the rule is 20%, so Nebraska must play in 35 games for her to be eligible. Not likely, but possible.

[YCN]

I would think that, given the circumstances, the NCAA would allow a waiver in this case. What a terrible blow to the Huskers, coming off their finest win of the year!


[This message has been edited by YCN (edited 12-16-2002).]

[swok34]

I hate to hear this. I think Nebraska will have to appeal to the NCAA, and who knows what they will rule. They tend NOT to rule in favor of the athlete when they have played the "X" number of games.

[ChipperF1]

We've been to this rodeo before. The same situation happened with Charo Jones in '99. She blew an ACL in the 7th game of the season and the NCAA ruled that Nebraska needed 35 contests in order to meet the 20% rule.

As far as Morse goes, I feel for her because she was having a bang-up year and was itching to play and make up for last year. This really puts a damper on a great weekend for the team.

Now Amanda Cleveland has to carry the ball. I'm confident that she'll do well considering the great distance she has gone to get here.

This is a blow, but not a terrible one. Katie can't tape it up or Novocaine it up so the rest of the team has to step up.

[Jennifer]

Morse is not a Sr, is she? Hope not...and hope she comes back stronger next year.

[HuskerFan86]

Coach Yori certainly took Morse's injury hard. During the post game interview, she hardly acknowledged that NU had just beaten a top 25 team, she was much more concerned about Morse. Connie said that Katie was the team's hardest working player and that she would be sorely missed. After she was done witht he interview, Yori went over to Morse and gave her a hugas both were in tears. You can tell that she really cares about her players.

On the bright said, NU played very well. Alexa Johnson continued her torrid scoring streak (27 points) and Margaret Richards may have been MVP, as she harrassed Cincy's All-American Val King into 0-13 shooting. Richards also chipped in with 12 points and Shaq tossed in 11 for the Huskers. Jina J. was back in form too. She really handled the ball well and dictated the tempo of the game.

I think the good news out weighed the bad on Sunday. Nebraska took another big step back toward top yesterday...

BTW, why are there so many more ACL injuries in womens' athletics than in the mens' game?

[mred]

Originally posted by HuskerFan86:
BTW, why are there so many more ACL injuries in womens' athletics than in the mens' game?

I'm not sure anyone really knows. It may just be an inherent difference in male and female bodies.

[metromaniac]

Sports Illustrated did an in depth article 5-7 years ago on this exact subject. As I recall, it had alot to do with the hip-thigh-knee alignment and the difference in men and women, "normal" for athlete, thigh muscle strength. The article included side by side analysis of the physiological alignment of the hips, bones and knees of both male and female. Again, as I recall, the key ingredient to preventing ACL's, was the strength of the thigh muscles, which assist and control the workings of the knee and therefore the ACL.

[YCN]

metro, another couple of theories to add...

One is that the bone notch in the knee where the ACL is located tends to be considerably narrower in women than men, and that is believed to cause considerably greater stress for women than for men on the ligament.

Another theory has to do with early strength development specific to the sport of basketball. The contention there is that a lot more girls become basketballers at a later age than boys, and and a result the specific physiological development surrounding the knee joint tends to be less advanced in terms of strength, thereby allowing a greater instability of the joint.

Even another theory has to do with the way women jump and land, compared to men.

I posted a whole slew of links to medical studies and other info last year on this issue. I imagine that if you searched the old articles you could find them.

I found that there are many divergent sources of information and few good answers, but a lot of theories. Much more work needs to be done in this area, and I believe that is beginning to happen.

Interestingly enough, there was another discussion I was engaged in - not sure if it was this board, though - where I investigated information about heat stroke. Again, there was a lot of misinformation about that condition out there, but much more solid research to back sound medical principles to avoid the condition.

[35TangoTango]

Oh, no! I can't believe how much this is happening. Our sympathies to Katie and her friends and family. After reading that there was doubt about whether she could red-shirt, I went immediately to the Nebraska Site to find out that she was a junior, and red-shirt or not would be back next year to play on a stronger Nebraska team.

As Coach Coale pointed out, you never know how these things will work out. If Stacey Dales had not missed her freshman year with an ACL, she wouldn't have still been around last year and there might not have been a final four team.

Good luck and prayers for Katie, and even on the bench, we look forward to seeing her in Norman!

[HuskerFan86]

Alexa Johnson was just named the Big XII player of the week! I can't remember the last time NU had a POW...probably sometime during the Anna Deforge or Nicole Kubick era. With the great numbers Lex is putting up, she could be in line for some post season honors come spring time.

http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/nu.gif

[HuskerFan86]

Nebraska's all-american volleyball player Laura Pilakowski is considering joining the b-ball team some time this month. She would be a ton of help as she is 6'1" and is one of the best athletes in Nebraska history regardless of sport OR gender.

Here's the article: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=38&u_sid=596933

[ChipperF1]

Congrats, Alexa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alexa set the tone with a T-Shirt, and her hard work. She's worthy of a game like this.

http://hoopscoop.net/ubb/nu.gif Womens Basketball
Ain't Nobody Sissified!

[two cents]

Every ACL injury is sad to hear about, but Nebraska can ill afford to lose players. I certainly hope they don't suffer any more serious injuries this season.

Speedy recovery to Katie, Caton, Erin and all others.


[This message has been edited by two cents (edited 12-17-2002).]