Warren comes to grips with season that has slipped away
Published: 3/8/2010 9:24 PM
Last Modified: 3/8/2010 9:24 PM
Monday afternoon, a bus pulled out of the Lloyd Noble Center parking lot. The Oklahoma Sooners were aboard, off to catch a plane at the airport, then headed to Kansas City for the Big 12 tournament.
Left inside the arena's practice gym to talk to a two newspaper writers was Willie Warren.
There isn't any basketball in Warren's life right now. Not with his right foot encased in a boot, which is where it's been since the sophomore guard underwent season-ending surgery last Wednesday.
"Training room, weight room. You can't really do much on the court with a boot," Warren said of his routine. "I rode the bike a couple times. Other than that it's just rehabbing."
The hope is that in a month to six weeks, he'll be hard at play again on his repaired right ankle. That way, he can consider a run at the NBA. If he hits a snag in rehab, or doesn't get the necessary torque off that ankle, he could be back at OU for a junior season.
"I'm really not looking at that right now," Warren replied to a stay-or-go question. "I'm just working on rehabbing my ankle and not being a distraction to my team."
He won't be a distraction to the Sooners this week. Not while stuck at home watching Wednesday's Big 12 first-rounder against Oklahoma State with roommate Barry Honore, a walk-on transfer from Southern University who doesn't travel with the team.
It isn't exactly where Warren planned on spending the end of OU's season. But then, nothing about his sophomore year has gone according to plan.
"Just watching the team go to Lawrence, a place I had talked about all year as one of the places I wanted to go play, and being unable to make that trip," Warren said. "Or going home and playing in front of family at Texas. And just putting my team in position to win. It's been very tough."
The cold-shooting Warren took the brunt of the blame for the Sooners' icy start. Just when it seemed like things were heating up – an encouraging effort at Texas A&M followed back-to-back wins over Oklahoma State and Missouri – Warren landed awkwardly on that ankle at practice Jan. 21.
"When I hurt my ankle, it was, 'What can happen next?'" he said. "Then I come back and hurt it again."
That was at Colorado Feb. 17. By then, his season, like his team's, was all but shot anyhow. He considered trying to return for the final week, but his ankle wouldn't allow it. Surgery followed.
"It was a little piece of cartilage that was partly separated. It was flapping over the bone," Warren said. "It was making me uncomfortable. It was making it swell in other parts. And I had some injuries just from past basketball. They went in there and removed the piece of cartilage and some scar tissue from other areas of my ankle."
The surgery was a success. The hope is that Warren's career, whether at OU or in the NBA, will follow suit. But there are no certainties, especially not after what he has endured this season.
"After (surgery), I just have to live life day by day and take it a day at a time, and just do what you can when you can, right in front of you," Warren said. "You can't just always think about the future. You've got to think about right now. That's what I've been doing, taking it day by day, working on my ankle, going to my rehab sessions."
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
