Comments on: Fire Glen Miller? Absolutely not

By: The Buzz » Blog Archive » Interviuesday: Fire Glen Miller’s Staff Writers

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:14:25 +0000

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By: JH

JH — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:32:03 +0000

Yes - but it seldom is the same injury and most labrum tears associated with shoulder dislocations not only don’t impact the rotator cuff, they don’t require surgery. Nevertheless, the degree of this particular tear/separation is a key missing ingredient. If he had a torn rotator cuff, I’d be much more worried.

I agree with you about the importance of having a bigger, stronger player at the 5
and hopefully Andreas will fill that role. I’m not sure his limited time against Navy is an indication of his long term health prospects, as much as an indication of his ability to contribute a lot right now. He can really use the 24 days we have in between games this exam break, as can several others of that walking wounded group.

By: IvyBBallFan

IvyBBallFan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:50:57 +0000

JH…
A physical therapist described torn “labrum” and “rotator cuff” to me as synonymous. Even if they are not, the labrum is made mostly of fibrocartilage (pardon technical term), a tissue that has poor bloodflow and is slow to heal when injured. Surgery to clean up and repair tears generally speeds healing.
While we will never know all the details of Schreiber’s current injury, he put in 14 minutes against ‘Nova in his season debut, but then played only five minutes against Navy, a game in which one might have expected a healthy returning player to play 20-25 minutes to shake off more rust. Maybe all this means nothing, but…
Though the main concern is for his personal health, one should also legitimately wonder about the health of the Quakers’ inside game this season if Schreiber cannot ever go at 100%. They rely heavily on him at 5.

By: steve becker

steve becker — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:00:07 +0000

Andrew, thanks for your response (and the many other interesting ones to your column). You make, as usual, excellent points. Please keep up the great coverage of the team. I look forward to your columns. No question, the kind of leadership that guys like Zoller and Grandieri provided would be helpful. And I agree that Zoller was really an exceptional mix of skills and head. The three free throws you refer to, in which he iced that Temple game, really defined what he brought consistently to the court. There really was ice in that guy’s blood. Interestingly, I remain intrigued by Eggleston’s “upside” and impressed by his skills, despite his somewhat tepid development. But I’m not ready to concur with you that Rosen has major talent; apart from his shooting problems, for which patience is indicated, he doesn’t strike me as having particularly special court vision or even a special “handle.” He’s obviously mature for a freshman and makes good decisions; his basketball IQ is high, no question; but he dribbles a lot with his head down, limiting his vision. I’ve noticed this in any number of games: except in the open court, he pretty much has his head down when he’s dribbling. Clearly he’s going to be good, but I question how good. Regarding Bernadini, he can obviously play, but then again he doesn’t make anyone around him better, his rebounding and defense are undistinguished, and, most problematic, he largely depends on open looks (in other words, he’s ultimately pretty limited, which is why opponents, should they continue to focus on him, will have little trouble shutting him down). My own take is that Egee is actually the best athlete on the team, yet he’s always been strangely underproductive. Gaines isn’t nearly the athlete one hoped he’d be; he’s not nearly as quick and explosive as he thinks he is, though I give him props for showing up against Villanova, etc.
Votel, meanwhile, gives you everything he’s got, game in, game out–which is to say, he busts his *ss.

By: JH

JH — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:17:15 +0000

Where did you see Andreas’ injury described as a torn rotator cuff? I’ve seen torn labrum and dislocated shoulder mentioned (which often occur simultaneously). Without knowing the exact nature of the damage to the labrum, it’s not a foregone conclusion that surgery will even be required; however, unless it heals properly one way or the other, that shoulder will probably remain susceptable to further dislocations. Importantly though, the team hasn’t made the kind of detailed medical information available that supports reaching a conclusion about his playing prospects for 08/09 or even beyond.

By: IvyBBallFan

IvyBBallFan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:32:04 +0000

Torn rotator cuffs heal extremely slowly without surgical repair. Even with surgery, it takes time. Schreiber could play at 70% this year, have surgery in March, and hope six-seven months’ healing time is enough to be at 100% for 2009-10. He could also decide to sit out 2008-09, have surgery now, and be virtually certain of playing at 100% his senior year. Interesting choice.

By: JH

JH — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:39:04 +0000

I don’t think we should confuse a lack of leadership with a lack of experience. I think there are a couple of very competitive young kids on the court who have strong leadership traits. The seniors are also trying. They are not lead players, but they are good kids and they’ve been good leaders. If you want to say we have no seasoned scorers that we can consistently rely on to make the big shot, I think that’s entirely accurate. However, I think players like Bernardini, Rosen, Gaines and Eggleston will make their share as the season progresses.

The team obviously misses older players with skill sets that exceed those of the younger kids. A lot of that is a function of some injury issues that have decimated Fran Dunphy’s last two recruiting classes. Hopefully Darren Smith and Andreas Schreiber can get healthy soon and mask some of the early season deficiencies.

Right now the court balance isn’t great. With Schreiber and Howlett hobbled, there is no post presence that concerns opponents enough to draw double teams. No motion offense can exceed without a post presence. The defense is also experiencing a similar problem.

Hopefully we can get healthier over this long lay off. A couple of the teams we’ve played so far are just better than us. But - I think most everybody feels Drexel, Albany and Navy were all winnable games. Each of those teams are actually decent, but the bottom line in each of those losses is that Penn didn’t play very well.

By: Zach Klitzman

Zach Klitzman — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:33:32 +0000

I’d love to weigh in on this conversation in-depth, but I’ll just respond to a few points mentioned towards the end of the thread.

I hear all this talk about Amy Gutmann not caring. Did Judith Rodin care that much? I never was a student under Rodin, so I don’t exactly what she did or didn’t do, but was she drastically that much more involved than Gutmann?

To respond to “Curious,” Miller said that about Andreas Schreiber, who is playing with a torn labrum. I wasn’t at the press conference, but I was at that game. He did look somewhat clueless, in the way that a player would if he hadn’t played a game since March.

By: Curious

Curious — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:16:15 +0000

Earlier this week Miller was quoted as saying “he really doesn’t know what he is doing” about a player…..thoughts?

By: PennFan

PennFan — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 02:24:47 +0000

Amy Gutmann showed up for a little while at the Nova game, and the student section really appreciated it with their usual chants/catcalls. But she probably didn’t even know who was playing and when the Quaker point to her to look up at the dismal-looking score, she actually applauded.

We need a president who actually knows Penn basketball. But having Amy Gutmann show up more often would be enough for now.