Both J.J. Moore and Tray Woodall will have surgery tomorrow.
Moore will have surgery to repair the fractured bone in his right foot, that he suffered last week.
Woodall will have surgery for a sports hernia. The injury he suffered at the end of the Duquesne game.
A sports hernia typically begins with a slow onset of aching pain in the lower abdominal region. Symptoms may include:
- Pain in the lower abdomen
- Pain in the groin
- Pain in the testicle (in males)
Typically the symptoms are exacerbated with activities such as running, cutting, and bending forward. Patients may also have increased symptoms when coughing or sneezing. Sports hernias are most common in athletes that have to maintain a bent forward position…
That was not an injury that simply healed while Woodall was out. Woodall came back and played through the pain with a mix of pain-killing medications and just being tough enough to take the pain. Far tougher than I am.
The more I read about this kind of injury the more I cannot understand anyone who doubts Woodall’s dedication to Pitt and his teammates, or just how tough he is. He was definitely not at full strength when he returned and limitations were obvious, but he still went out there for the team.
Woodall’s surgery will have him rehabbing for the next eight weeks or so.
hope he comes back ok.
tough kid
Am I crazy to expect a dramatic return to success next year? Gibbs became a liability over the course of the season, and Nas was never going to be much more than a roleplayer and he played hurt all year. We know Woodall can do everything asked of a Pitt PG, and Robinson sounds like he can spell him effectively. If Zeigler gets eligible, that could be a plain NASTY backcourt.
Adams is going to be a stud. While Taylor isn’t what we all wanted him to be, he can be effective at times. If Taylor is the second option under the basket instead of the key player, I think he can provide very solid minutes (albeit weak defensively). Patterson’s development has been encouraging.
I can’t wait for next season… get this sour taste out of my mouth.
Hail to Pitt. Tough guys.
The maturity I look for comes from between the ears…I don’t mean giving the required sound bites during the injury rehab process. I want them to reflect on what it was about other players who beat them that allowed that to happen.
Possessions in basketball are precious commodities. Turning the ball over does 2 things…it 1) absolutely keeps you from scoring, and 2) gives the foe a chance to score.
An 8 point win is then a game in which the loser turned the ball over twice and the foe converted both times…everything else in the game is equal.
In reality, that can happen in less than 15 seconds.
I want these guys to heal for sure, but I also want them to grow emotionally.
However, his decision-making and ball-handling are not his strengths, and those are important qualities for a PG. He can and will be an important part of Pitt being successful, but I just don’t think that happens if the offense is consistently running through him. (Which is also why seeing Patterson’s development late last season could be so important.)
He needs to improve his consistency, but more importantly, Pitt needs to become less reliant him. Having Robinson take some of the load off him will be best for everyone.
Missing Greentree won’t matter at all for Moore and Woodall. Woodall missed it last year and Moore is, to use an old school expression, a total gunner. Greentree might have hurt his season last year, he felt like he should take every shot.
All players have to except their weaknesses to be effective at this level. When I watch Woodall, Gibbs, Fiedls, and Krauser play they all seem to lapse into that school yard mentality “I can beat anyone out here.” This is a double edge sword that has hurt Pitt often in the past especially in tournament play.
This is opposite of what I see of the Wannamaker, Young and Blair style of play. It is also different apparently from Robinson’s mindset.
In my opinion with Adams on the court Woodall would be the last player I would want playing PG. Like in the AAU and All-Star games Adams would become a bit player on Tray Woodall’s team.
Despite attempts to have such players play within the not paly beyond their capabilities when they went make on the court their mind set kicked in.
Like Dixon with Woodall often times you have no one else to turn to on the bench.
Tray will be better physically next year but that will not change the fact that against confernce schedule as a sophmore and junior Tray point production to turnovers, few assists, and defensive liabilities are not going to change. More importantly as a senior he is going to be convinced that this is “his team” and its success depends on him. This is contray to the fact that as skill levels goes he would be the 4 or 5 best player on the court if he played before Robinson which would be a mistake.
If you were wondering, my other concerns are : (i) lack of a pure shooter and (ii) lack of a PF. Both of these though can be hid in the right circumstances. (iii) can we man up on defense on the perimeter? I think this is going to be relatively OK, at least better this coming year since we’ll be longer and more athletic. Moore, Zeigler or Patterson in place of Gibbs; Woodall with a little more lateral quickness, presumably now he’ll be healthy; and Adams and Gilbert’s presense will mean there more room for error if the perimeter D gets beat on drives so they can play closer on shooters, i would htink.
Imagine my surprise, I figured I was just in a constant state of Blue Balls.
i don’t doubt his speed and lateral movement were partly limited by a hernia problem. he was also completely outplayed and overmatched by some opposing backcourts and no one’s going to convince me that a sports hernia made a player shoot like crap for the last 10 games of the regular season.
he just doesn’t make anybody on the squad better — Taylor and Zanna didn’t get easy buckets from his penetration and he doesn’t cause turnovers because he’s never been much of a defender.
there’s just no upside with Woodall. if next year’s team is completely dependent on him, it’s bad news for us fans. Robinson has to get some time……
