Sorry. Just terrible...
The Orange are back in Syracuse now and AO will have an MRI done today in order to figure out the true extent of his injury. Dr. Irving Raphael, the team physician (and you thought it was DOCTOR Gross), says it's too early to speculate but he expects good-ish news.
"It’s not in anybody’s best interests to speculate – how good? . . . how bad? – right now," Raphael said. "These kids come back from injuries. So, if you’re asking me, ‘Are you expecting him to play?’ I’m expecting him to play. Unless there is a surprise. We’ll get the MRI and treat what we get."
"It very likely is in the same area as the previous problem. That’s what he was telling me," Raphael said. "But again, we’ll know after the MRI."
The seemingly good news is that it's believed to be a quad tendon injury and not the dreaded ACL tear. We already know nothing is broken as well.
And so we wait. While this isn't on the same scale as Purdue's Robbie Hummel, it's still way too significant for the Orange to take lightly. What AO leaves off the table with free-throw shooting, he more than makes up for with his scoring, rebounding, defense and mere presence. Fingers...crossed.