The UCLA men’s basketball team has been ravaged by
injuries all season.
Tuesday, the ravaging continued in nightmarish fashion.
Sophomore forward Josh Shipp, who said he suffered throbbing
pain in his surgically-repaired right hip in each of the four games
he’s played, will not step on the court again this
season.
“It was something lingering in my mind for awhile,”
Shipp said. “The Stanford and Cal game, I really didn’t
feel comfortable, but I wanted to go out there for the team. I
tried to go again this week, and at that point I decided I
couldn’t do it for the whole year.
“It was just too much pain.”
Shipp underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right hip Sept. 28,
2005, and afterwards endured an extensive rehabilitation
process.
Shipp made his first game appearance Dec. 29, 2005, when he
started against Stanford. He has averaged 11.3 points and 4.8
rebounds in his four games this season.
“We tried to do everything we could to have this all come
together and make it happen, and it just didn’t
happen,” coach Ben Howland said.
“It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating for all of
us. We’re 13-2, we’re the 11th-ranked team in the
country, we’re coming off a great weekend, and it’s
just a frustrating thing.
“But the bottom line is that the long-term health of a
player in this program will come first before the team.”
Shipp will now rest and do minimal rehab for the next two and a
half months, and the Bruins will be forced to cope with the absence
of a returning starter who was an honorable mention on last
year’s Pac-10 All-Freshman Team.
“So far everybody else has stepped up, and we’ve
been doing alright, so I’m not worried,” said sophomore
point guard Jordan Farmar, Shipp’s roommate and best friend
on the team. “Everybody’s going to get opportunities,
and it’s going to put more responsibilities on certain guys.
That’s what we live for. That’s what we’re here
for.”
Howland wouldn’t comment extensively on the immediate
lineup repercussions of the injury, but as long as the team is
without senior forward Cedric Bozeman, whose status is still
uncertain after suffering torn cartilage in his left shoulder on
Dec. 27, 2005, UCLA’s freshmen will be asked to step up.
Howland said that freshman forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute will
likely see more time at the small forward position, as will
sophomore guard Arron Afflalo. Farmar can move over to shooting
guard, and freshman Darren Collison can play more minutes at the
point guard spot.
But Tuesday, everyone’s thoughts were with Shipp, and his
injury had two people feeling particularly guilty.
Howland said he encouraged Shipp to return Dec. 21, 2005, in the
game against Wagner. Shipp’s mother, Deborah, also encouraged
him to play through his doubts about the health of his hip.
“We thought maybe we’d get a breakthrough, but it
didn’t happen,” Deborah said.
Howland expressed regret about pushing Shipp into action because
if Shipp hadn’t played this season, he could have redshirted
and still had three years of eligibility remaining. Since Shipp
played only four games, the team can petition the NCAA for an extra
year of eligibility for medical hardship, but the granting of that
petition is not automatic.
To file the medical hardship petition, a player must play in
less the 20 percent of the team’s games that season, and he
can’t appear in a game past midway through the season.
If Shipp were to play Thursday against Washington State, he
would no longer be eligible for the medical hardship waiver.
“It’s not his fault,” Howland said. “His
mother feels guilty, as I do. We supported him coming back and
trying it out thinking it would get better and would improve.
“This is probably a classic example of too much too soon.
The pain level is something he is experiencing, and none of us can
feel what he feels.”
Though Farmar is disappointed that the team will be without
Shipp, he is 100 percent supportive of his teammate and
friend’s decision.
“It shows a lot of maturity and intelligence that
he’s going to do the smart thing, even though it may not be
the easy thing to do right now,” Farmar said.
And though Shipp is confident that it’s the right
decision, it’s also a decision made with a deep sense of
regret.
“That’s the thing,” Shipp said. “If
everybody was healthy, we could really do something special. And I
think we still are. Other guys just have to step up.”
The number of guys able to do that, however, continues to
dwindle.