The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Cyesha Goree and Aquashia Ander- son — tore their anterior cruciate ligaments late in their senior seasons of high school, it was viewed as an uncommon, unfortunate situation. Improbably, two members of the 2012 class — freshman forward Re- becca Lyttle and freshman guard Sy- mone Denham — injured their knees toward the end of their senior seasons. That's four ACL injuries in a little more than a year — and all four hap- pened before the players arrived at Michigan, away from the state-of- the-art medical and rehabilitation fa- cilities in Ann Arbor. Goree, Anderson and Denham have been cleared to play and will be contributors this season. Lyttle, who suffered her injury in a high school all-star game after her senior season is "not quite there yet," according to Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico. Wolverines Struggle With ACL Injuries W hen two members of the 2011 recruiting class — forward Kim Barnes Arico said she never had to deal with an ACL injury in her first 16 seasons as a coach, but her first U-M team has had six play- ers suffer that fate within the last two years. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN "They are behind right now," Barnes Arico said. "It is a lot of re- covery to get them back in the mix. Any time you're a young player and you miss early, it's hard to catch up." But there was still more bad news to come. Freshman Kelsey Mitchell, a prom- ising forward from Detroit, and ju- nior center Val Driscoll, who was ex- pected to give the Wolverines some much needed depth and size in the post, tore ACL injuries in the sum- mer — within a week of each other. Both underwent surgery at the end of August and will miss the entire 2012-13 season. Barnes Arico has never seen any- thing like this current ACL epidemic. "I've been coaching a long time and until now, I had never been a part of an ACL injury," she said. "Never. And you hear about these programs that have a lot of them, and I have never been associated with that. I'm hoping that it's a freak thing. "Our strength coaches are really doing a tremendous job of preparing them in the preseason to get them ready and doing some preventative stuff. Hopefully, that works out." 84 THE WOLVERINE NOVEMBER 2012 But, according to a March 2011 ar- ticle in The New York Times entitled "For Women In Sports, A.C.L. In- juries Take Toll," Michigan's recent problems with the injury may be part of a wide-ranging trend in women's athletics. According to the article, "women SCHEDULE IN 2012-13 Michigan head coach Kim Barnes Arico certainly isn't getting favors from the Wolverines schedule in her first year on the job. This year, Michigan will play 16 teams that played in the postseason last season. Big Ten foes Penn State (which advanced to the Sweet 16 last year), Ohio State, Iowa, Michigan State, Nebraska and Purdue all played in the NCAA Tournament. Michigan will also play Duke (Nov. 28), Flor- ida (Dec. 1) and at Eastern Michigan (Dec. 11), all of which played in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Five more nonconference teams on the docket — Detroit (Nov. 9), at Utah (Nov. 16), Harvard (Nov. 23), Boston University (Nov. 4) and at Il- linois State (Dec. 5) — played in last seasons Women's NIT. U-M FACES TOUGH "Who made that schedule? Who- ever makes future one, better watch out," Barnes Arico said jokingly. are up to five times more likely than men to have their career interrupted" by an ACL tear. While research is still being conducted, doctors be- lieve women's susceptibility to the injury could be linked to factors such as, "the smaller size of the notch through which the ligament con- nects to the femur in the upper leg; a tendency to land straight-legged and knock-kneed; core instability; or a greater imbalance in the compara- tive strength of the hamstring to the quadriceps." Date Nov. 2 Slippery Rock (exhibition) Nov. 9 Detroit Nov. 12 at Xavier Nov. 16 at Utah Nov. 19 Seton Hall Nov. 23 Harvard Nov. 24 Boston University Nov. 28 Duke Dec. 1 Florida Dec. 5 at Illinois State "Maybe the times are changing and more and more younger kids are getting them — because a lot of these kids are coming in with ACL injuries," Barnes Arico said. "They're having them in high school, and it's getting younger and younger. "I think some of it might be spe- cialization — these kids are play- ing basketball all year round and maybe they're not working any other muscles. "It's just using the same muscles over and over again." Dec. 11 at Eastern Michigan Dec. 15 Western Michigan Dec. 20 Valparaiso Dec. 29 Niagara Jan. 3 Indiana Jan. 6 at Iowa Jan. 13 Wisconsin Jan. 17 at Northwestern Jan. 21 Penn State Jan. 24 at Indiana Jan. 27 Iowa Jan. 31 at Minnesota Feb. 10 at Purdue Feb. 4 at Michigan State Feb. 7 Illinois Feb. 16 Michigan State Feb. 21 Nebraska Feb. 24 at Penn State Feb. 28 Northwestern March 3 at Ohio State March 7-10 Big Ten Tournament 2012-13 U-M Women's Basketball Schedule Opponent 6:30 p.m. 7 p.m. 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 7 p.m. 2 p.m. 8 p.m. 7 p.m. 2 p.m. 6 p.m. 2 p.m. 7 p.m. 1 p.m. 2 p.m. 8 p.m. 7 p.m. 6 p.m. 7 p.m. Time 6:30 p.m. 7 p.m. 2 p.m. 8 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7 p.m. Noon Noon 7 p.m. 1 p.m. TBA TBA