Last night the Kentucky Wildcats were dominated by the Florida Gators. That isn't the main storyline though, the main thing is the injury of Nerlens Noel. When chasing after a defender on a hustle play, Noel banged his knee into the basket support and buckled his knee. He was in serious pain, and the Wildcats had to carry Noel to the locker room. The only good news out of this story is the fact that Noel did fly back with the team to Lexington, Kentucky. Nerlens Noel has a torn ACL and will be out for the rest of the season. This hurts the Wildcats in many ways. For example, this team was getting back to normal and back to NCAA Tournament contention. Now, Kentucky has a much lower chance of getting into the tournament. This also hurts Noel's future career. After sustaining an injury in college, he might not recover from it, meaning his knee won't have enough strength. This could also affect his draft position if he enters the NBA Draft. The team that selects him will have to make sure his knee is strong enough, then let him play. We have seen these type of injuries to star players; Wes Welker, Adrian Peterson, and Derrick Rose. Both Welker and Peterson are football players in the NFL. Derrick Rose is on the Chicago Bulls, in the NBA and still isn't playing. Peterson was the fastest to recover. More and more ACL injuries have been popping up, but the rehab time has been getting shorter and shorter. The usual time table for recovering from an ACL injury is 8-12 months. Now, most recovering time is only 6-8 months. I don't think Kentucky is going to be the team they were last season, and have to work extra hard to get into the NCAA Tournament in March.
By Ameen I.
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