Under expanded NCAA rules for 2020, Division I basketball will, for all intents and purposes, become a year-round sport, and perhaps the athlete’s body isn’t on board with the new plan.
In just over a month, four Minnesota players lost their 2022-23 season with season-ending knee injuries during NCAA-sanctioned summer practices. This includes Ben Jonson’s two of his biggest and most experienced forwards and his one of his four freshmen lassoed by Lindsay Warren.
Also included is the Connecticut point guard, one of the best players in college basketball. Paige BookersIowa tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last Monday and underwent season-ending surgery Wednesday. did.
Coaches are constantly lobbying for more time to work with student-athletes, whether they’re trying to recruit more players or prepare their current players for the season. After a month has passed, some may wonder how productive it would be to practice all summer long.
When the Gophers women’s basketball kicked off summer training on June 13, Whalen spent the summer working with her father at the 3M factory in Hutchinson, while playing for Minnesota from 2000-2004. He said he played pick-up games. Probably better for DI student-athletes these days.
But it was only a month later that Whalen announced in a news release: Nearia HollowayThe Eden Prairie forward and one-fourth of the nationally ranked recruiting class will miss this season after injuring her knee during practice. Last Monday, Johnson announced: Isaiah Inen He will miss the season after picking up a knee injury in July, just weeks after the season ended. parker fox Withdrew due to a knee injury during practice.
Fox and Ienen missed the entire 2021-22 season after blowing out their knees last summer. Ainen was at his June summer practice while Fox was working out for about a month after he spent two years at his D2 Northern State in Sioux Falls, Minnesota. Fox and Inen were big losses for Johnson’s Gophers, and had a small last season as Fox and Inen were injured.
The rest of Minnesota are arguably better basketball players this summer, adding muscle, stamina and skill for big-time college basketball. And if you’ve run out of things to do in July, let’s check your calendar in November.
Two summers ago, the NCAA extended the summer period for Division I basketball players to practice and/or work out with program staff to eight weeks from July 20 through at least September 15. Did. Eight hours a week, but still two hours of practice four times a week, following a voluntary training window starting June 1st.
Now that NCAA student-athletes are paid scholarships and finally allowed to share in the profits of the billion-dollar industry they drive, being a top-tier college athlete is a full-time job. It’s easy to accept that fact. Especially if you have a kitchen that can be refueled 24 hours a day. And perhaps spending consistent time with coaches and staff will make them better players. This is a desirable situation for athletes who are eager to make money playing basketball for at least some time.
Maybe this has the opposite effect. The break is probably going well.
I have something to say about the offseason, not just because I’m recovering from surgery.
