Story details just how unlikely Howard Washington’s return to basketball was

If the news of Howard Washington’s 2018 stroke wasn’t shocking enough, then perhaps Mike Waters’s story on Syracuse.com today hammers home just how harrowing an ordeal it was — and how unlikely it was that the Syracuse Orange guard would return to basketball.

Waters spoke to the doctors that repaired Washington’s heart following the incident last year, and discussed just how much he beat the odds by making it back to the basketball court. The article details the entire procedure, along with the odds he could score the required 0 on the Modified Rankin Scale: somewhere between 3 and 10 percent.

After such a scary ordeal and trying rehabilitation afterward, it’s amazing to see Washington back healthy — and we’ll be glad to see him back playing for the team this fall.

That, plus the rest of your Syracuse-related links below:

How doctors repaired Howard Washington’s heart, helped him beat odds after stroke (Syracuse.com)

Patients who suffer a stroke have a roughly 32 percent chance of a good recovery when they receive clot-busting drugs and underwent the mechanical thrombectomy. But “good’’ in the Modified Rankin Scale is anywhere between 0 to 2 on a scale of 0 to 6, where 6 is dead. Only with a score of 0 would Washington ever play college-level basketball again.

Donovan McNabb: I’m a Hall of Famer, better numbers than Troy Aikman (ProFootballTalk)

“I am a Hall of Famer. My numbers speak for themselves,” McNabb told TMZ. “My numbers are better than Troy Aikman.” McNabb does, in fact, have better numbers than Aikman: McNabb threw for more yards and more touchdowns, with fewer interceptions. But that’s a bit misleading.

Duke’s steady and full of upside in football. We don’t talk enough about how wild that is (SB Nation)

Step one toward thriving in a post-Jones universe: survive Week 1. Duke inexplicably plays Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game to start the year, and while we’ll learn a few things about the defense’s capability, it’s unlikely Duke will move the ball. The Blue Devils are favored in four of five games post-Bama, though, and it’s imperative to their bowl hopes that they win those winnable games.

State of the Program: As Maryland football moves forward, it looks to the past for inspiration (The Athletic)

Maryland opens its season with a potentially intriguing matchup with Howard, a local FCS opponent led by Caylin Newton, Cam’s younger brother and the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s Offensive Player of the Year. In another year, opening with Howard and Syracuse back-to-back wouldn’t seem so daunting, but couple Caylin Newton with an Orange team coming off a 10-win season, and suddenly September looks fairly challenging for a first-year coach.

Syracuse football: 4 Class of 2019 signees enroll for Summer Session I (Syracuse.com)

This quartet joins the eight players who entered the program for the spring semester, leaving nine signees to arrive for Summer Session II or the fall semester. Also among those left to enroll is offensive tackle Ryan Alexander, a graduate transfer from South Alabama.

Predicting the 2020 ACC landscape (State of the U)

Oshae Brissett among Utah Jazz pre-draft workouts (Twitter)

ESPN announces game times and channels for ACC bowl lineup (TigerNet)

Midweek Musings: How would Penn State do in the ACC? (Black Shoe Diaries)

CuseCast: Justin Barron discusses recruitment (CuseNation)