Mo Watson - ACL out for season

[FDS]

McDermott stands for Mid Season COY

He certainly hasn't ever been described as a post-season COY at Creighton...

[FDS]

In the presser yesterday, McD and Wop made it clear that Wop reinserted himself into the game. Mo said that the trainer rubbed ice on his knee after the original contact with Sumner and he did some squats (really!) and it felt much better. So he checked himself back in. He and McD had that kind of trust--when Mo felt like he was ready to go back in, he went. It's been this way all season. Mo made his own decision.

So those who blame McD should reevaluate their position. McD didn't even realize Mo checked himself back in, but when he did, he assumed that Mo and the trainer were in agreement that all was good. And then it wasn't. Retrospectively knowing the seriousness of the injury doesn't change the decision-making process that teams (coaches/players/medical staff) use to evaluate injuries on the fly and determine whether a player needs to be held out or not. As others said, Mo went down hard against Butler, but got up and was good to go.

It's easy to sit in an arm chair and criticize others. Often it makes the criticizer look foolish when all the facts come out.

Honestly, to me this makes McDermott look worse. He doesn't even make his own substitutions or have control over his players (specifically hurt a hurt player who could be doing himself harm?) McDermott is the coach and the adult in this situation. I certainly don't feel foolish expecting him to act like a coach or and adult and err on the side of caution in a situation like that.

[handdownmandown]

Again, you don't know what you're talking about.

Every game, Watson gets a break around 13:30 or so and comes back in after the under 12 timeout. Every game.

His reinsertion was not something that needed to be cleared because it was standard. As far as Wop telling the coaches he was fine, the guy is the team's leader; if he says he's a go, why not believe him?

Then there's this: if you know about ACL tears you'll realize it's pretty likely he tore it the first fall, making all this moot.

[cu blujs]

I don't think explaining will do any good. The guy is clearly a troll looking for a reaction. Put him on ignore and move on.

[sciencejay]

FDS: maybe you've never encountered a coach/manager/boss that was an enabler of others' success rather than a micromanager? To me the situation is simple. McD has a tremendous relationship with each of his players and each member of his staff. Each player/staff member has a role, and each is trusted to execute his/her responsibilities without continuous oversight. In this case, a player was injured. The staff evaluated the injury and determine that it likely wasn't serious and that the player could return. The player checked it out himself, talked to the trainer and determined that he wanted to go back in. The trainer didn't alert McD to the possibility that it was serious because it did not appear to be (based upon his own physical evaluation and Watson's commentary on how the knee was feeling--he was able to do squats on it after all). And as he had done countless times previously, Wop checked himself back in. Then it went 'pop'. And the rest is history to be critiqued by all.

Again, knowing after the fact that the injury was more serious than it first appeared, doesn't make him negligent. If you were the coach, then maybe you would have acted differently. Maybe you would have (somehow) just known that this time it was different, and that you should personally evaluate the player yourself (even though you aren't a medical professional) to determine whether he should return or not.

I like the idea that McD recruits smart kids who he can trust to understand the team philosophy and enable them to get out there and execute. Each player has a stake in the team, not just themselves and their own numbers. I believe that creates a system where the ceiling can be higher. I'm in academic research, and I can say unequivocally that grad students that come in and take ownership of a project will be more successful than those who are given projects and have to be managed on a regular basis. I'm not saying there's no oversight, but you empower individuals to be successful, and then you let them go do it.

[FDS]

I don't think explaining will do any good. The guy is clearly a troll looking for a reaction. Put him on ignore and move on.

Didn't know that having a differing opinion makes me a troll... It isn't like I am the only one who pointed out that McDermott could have possibly prevented this. You can speculate that he tore it on the first fall or the second. It doesn't really matter, he shouldn't have gone back in. He may reinsert himself every game... great, if you haven't noticed, this wasn't every game... prior to going out he was writhing on the floor in pain (I don't think he was faking that pain). It should have been an indication to err on the side of caution in my opinion.

I know you are upset about the loss, but Creighton fans are getting awfully defensive here. I am not even the one doing the name calling on here today. I am expressing why I disagree with you and why I don't think your coach is a very smart coach. I hope McDermott learns from this in how he as the coach handles these situations in the future. I never like seeing someone get hurt, and I especially don't like seeing a guy end his college career like that when I think it could have been avoided. Sorry you are all so butt/knee hurt.

Maybe if your skin was thicker than Mo's ACL you would realize that I was just voicing my opinion, not attacking any of you on a personal level.

[FDS]

FDS: maybe you've never encountered a coach/manager/boss that was an enabler of others' success rather than a micromanager? To me the situation is simple. McD has a tremendous relationship with each of his players and each member of his staff. Each player/staff member has a role, and each is trusted to execute his/her responsibilities without continuous oversight. In this case, a player was injured. The staff evaluated the injury and determine that it likely wasn't serious and that the player could return. The player checked it out himself, talked to the trainer and determined that he wanted to go back in. The trainer didn't alert McD to the possibility that it was serious because it did not appear to be (based upon his own physical evaluation and Watson's commentary on how the knee was feeling--he was able to do squats on it after all). And as he had done countless times previously, Wop checked himself back in. Then it went 'pop'. And the rest is history to be critiqued by all.

Again, knowing after the fact that the injury was more serious than it first appeared, doesn't make him negligent. If you were the coach, then maybe you would have acted differently. Maybe you would have (somehow) just known that this time it was different, and that you should personally evaluate the player yourself (even though you aren't a medical professional) to determine whether he should return or not.

I like the idea that McD recruits smart kids who he can trust to understand the team philosophy and enable them to get out there and execute. Each player has a stake in the team, not just themselves and their own numbers. I believe that creates a system where the ceiling can be higher. I'm in academic research, and I can say unequivocally that grad students that come in and take ownership of a project will be more successful than those who are given projects and have to be managed on a regular basis. I'm not saying there's no oversight, but you empower individuals to be successful, and then you let them go do it.

In my opinion there are different styles of management that should be used depending on the situation. From what I saw Mo on the ground like that after the first knee knock, no matter what the prior relationship had been, I would not have let him go back in. Not because I am a micromanager, but because the situation called for more evaluation in my opinion. I also would not have had him in for the last 30 seconds of the Butler game when the game was clearly out of reach.

I respect your opinion and don't think you are a troll or a dmb sht because I disagree with you. I just disagree and think that McDermott shares in the responsibility of keeping his players safe and healthy. I am not a medical professional and I am not going to tell you some anecdotal ACL story (I have been around a number of serious knee injuries), I am going to tell you when I don't think someone did their due diligence and didn't make the tough decision to protect a player when he had the opportunity and responsibility to do so. You are welcome to continue justifying your position. I just disagree with it.

[sciencejay]

Of course McD shares responsibility. If you watched the presser yesterday, you could tell that he's really down about this as well. He truly cares for his players and he's devastated for Mo. You seem almost angry that he trusts a professional trainer and a 22 year old kid who's been playing bball and experiencing numerous knee ailments for 15-plus years (what bb player doesn't have frequent brushes with knee pain?) to make determinations. If the trainer, a medical professional, and the player, the individual who is feeling the pain and can communicate what he's feeling to the medical professional, what place does McD have to intervene? He can't magically see the injured ligament, and he can't feel the pain to know that this time it's different.

I encourage you to watch the end of the Butler game from last Wednesday when Mo hit someone knee to knee and compare the look on his face and the way he appeared to be in tremendous pain to the fall after he and Sumner knocked knees on Monday. Nearly identical in my opinion. After writhing around for nearly a minute, he got up and began to run full speed. I thought he might be a professional soccer player. When he did squats and checked himself out after Monday's injury, and with the blessing of the trainer, he went back in. You've been around a lot of knee injuries, so would you were able to distinguish those two knee-knock injuries? You think McD should have, so you're right: we are in disagreement. Sometimes accidents do happen. Jays fans are not being thin-skinned by arguing that accidents can be accidents and that there's not necessarily someone to be blamed.

If you must point a finger, blame McD, but if McD is to blame, isn't that an indictment on NCAA bball in general? And if NCAA bball is to blame, then isn't that an indictment on the entire collegiate athletics system and the entire country as well? Well, I'm not going to stand here and listen to you bad mouth America. Let's get out of here!

[dakphonics]

Greg McDermott at the press conference when asked about the decision to play Mo after the initial fall: "there could have been a herd of buffalos running at us, and this dude was going back in the game." And before he finished the sentence Mo said, "yeah I don't even think coach Mac subbed me back in. (Coach Mac: "yeah I didnt. I never sub him back in) I just saw as soon as they made their run, I went back to the table and said, check me back in... I always know when that media time out is over that's my time to go back. I wasn't thinking about the injury, and I'm not now thinking about "what if I didn't go back in." Because I'm built on toughness and as coach said, that's just the way it was going to be.

[DudeAnon]

The only consolation I can think of is that Creighton has truly upped their recruiting in the Big East. So their Final Four aspirations might be gone for this year but they aren't a flash in the pan by any means.