First, the good news: surgery last Tuesday went well. They did a scope on my knee to make sure everything looked like they expected (it did, and actually included a tear in my meniscus which shouldn’t really affect anything) then he fixed up the fracture by inserting a plate and four screws (which, no, won’t set off metal detectors at the airport haha).

The next two days were as miserable as any two days I’ve had in a long, long time. The pain was so intense and on top of that the pain medication made my stomach pretty uneasy—it seemed like it’d be a never ending cycle. I can’t really put into words how unbelievable it was having my mom (a former nurse) come down from Chicago to St. Louis to take care of me for the 5-days after the operation. My mom kept on saying how lucky she was for getting to spend such “quality” time with me and how there aren’t any moms that get to spend a week with their college sons during school—and all I kept thinking was that I’d be home for a week for winter break in a month and I would have rather had THAT been the week we spent together!

I’m currently still in a pretty serious leg brace (with absolutely no mobility) and about 15-pounds of wrap around my right leg. I’m in the same leg-dressing I got after the surgery and am EXTREMELY excited for tomorrow when I head to the doctor to hopefully get less-restriction on the brace and wrap that is removable. The removable aspect of the brace and wrap is probably the highlight because I’ll be able to shower for the first time in nine days!!!! You never really stop and appreciate the little things, like showering, but the ridiculous amount of wash cloths I’ve used in the past week makes me look forward to that warm shower tomorrow.

I’m also pretty excited for tonight. Coach Whittle and I are heading over to Fontbonne to scout their game against Webster. We play Fontbonne next week so it’ll be my first true scouting experience as a “coach” as I get to soak in some SLIAC basketball. These two teams are pretty big rivals and are probably the cream of the conference crop so it should be a good one to watch.

Last weekend I looked on as we were able to take down the 24^th Annual Lopata Classic. I was bummed I wasn’t able to partake in the banquet and pre-tournament activities that make the invitational such an upscale and special tournament for the Division III level. Between the special gift (a classy dress watch) and meals I know it’s a tournament visiting teams must enjoy being a part of.

Friday night we enjoyed a nice home crowd on the way to a 94-64 win over Earlham. It’s always fun when 13 people score and the kids that don’t normally get a chance to get on the court get to play with family and friends in the crowd.

Saturday was one of the eeriest games I’ve ever watched. It was relatively close the whole way. I can’t really go through and explain or describe all of it but if you have a chance, check out the last 3-minutes of the second half from the play-by-play in the box score. Between the missed free-throws, steals, big time performance by Kyle McDonald (from Babson… I mean he was ridiculous) and Tyler it was just a weird game. Babson missed a lay-up as time expired and we escaped with the 68-66 victory.

There’s been a lot of talk of how will Wash U be without me (see the poll from last week and the movement of us dropping in the d3hoops.com poll ). To be honest, I don’t think anyone knows and no one will know for a few more weeks- it’s too early to really judge as people are still trying to adapt to new roles on the court and hopefully by the time conference swings around we can have this ship going confidently in the right direction.

That being said, since I’ve been out there has been absolutely no better player in the country than my best buddy Tyler. In the past four games (3-1 without me) he’s averaged 24.8 points per game, shooting 69.0% (40/58) from the field, grabbing 8.5 rebounds a game and having 10 total steals. Hopefully Ty won’t have to keep up those ridiculous numbers for us to get by and the others will start to get comfortable in their new roles but I had to give him some love.

Illinois Wesleyan is coming here on Saturday which should be fun and a good match-up. One of my best friends from high school goes to IWU and lives with a bunch of basketball guys. In the fall I visited him, and got to hang out with Andrew Gilmore, Jordan Morris, Brian Nussbaum, Elias Washington, and others so I look forward to seeing them Saturday and catching up. Last time the “green weenies” (as some people at WU may call them) were down here they were number one in the country with by far the most talented Division III team I’ve ever seen—and, man did they put a good licking on us. That IWU team from two years ago definitely painted us a picture of what it took to be one of the best in the country and I think it helped motivate us to get where we got last year.

Happy Hannukah to all that lit the menorah last night and happy holiday season to everyone else!

Check in next week—Take care,

Sean

p.s. Thanks to all for the cookies, gift baskets, phone calls, e-mails, blog responses, etc… I’m going to try and get back to you all eventually!

p.p.s. I’m REALLY excited to read about that Brandeis-Amherst game on Saturday. While I love the way Andrew Olson and the defending champs play I gotta pull for ‘Deis! UAA Unity!