By Dylan Hernandez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff He waited five years for this, only to
have had it taken away in an instant.
He wants to scream, yell, perhaps even cry. Tuesday morning,
UCLA senior guard Rico Hines received the results of the MRI he had
taken the day before. What the doctor told him was what he
didn’t want to hear: he had a lateral meniscus tear in his
left knee. Hines, as a result, will miss the UCLA men’s
basketball team’s NCAA Tournament game against Missouri in
the round of 16 this Thursday.
If the Bruins win that day, Hines will have to watch the next
game, which takes place Saturday, from the bench as well. But
whatever pain Hines feels, he’ll keep to himself. “Man,
I can’t even describe it. I’m really hurt,” the
Bruin captain said when asked how he felt. “But I can’t
let my teammates see that.” Hines waited five years for this
opportunity, to be on a team that was as close as it is this year
to make the Final Four.
He’ll have to console himself with the thought that if the
Bruins do make the Final Four, he’ll have a chance of playing
““ he’ll play, however, only if his knee responds
positively to a week of rehabilitation. Surgery, naturally, is an
option, but Hines won’t even consider it. Not now, at least.
“There was no way I was getting surgery before the season was
over,” Hines said. “I have a high pain tolerance.
I’m pretty good with pain. Hopefully they’ll shoot me
up or something.”
Poor guy. Hines is UCLA’s in-your-face,
dive-over-the-table scrapper. That’s what he was at the
beginning of the year and that’s what he was last Sunday when
the Bruins took down top-seeded Cincinnati in the second round of
the tournament. Had Hines not run so hard while chasing down a
rebound in the first half of that game ““ causing him to land
awkwardly and twist his knee ““ he would still be playing.
Then again, had Hines not been running at that pace, the pace
which he ran all season, the Bruins’ season may have already
been over. “It sucks to see him go down,” Bruin forward
Jason Kapono said. “It’s the luck of the draw.
He’s been here each of the last four years.”
“It’s going to be difficult not having him because he
brings tremendous energy,” center Dan Gadzuric added.
“We’re not going to lose him totally because
he’ll bring leadership from off the court.”
It’s off the court where UCLA head coach Steve Lavin hopes
Hines can contribute. Lavin said he will use Hines as an extra
assistant coach during this week’s games. “It’ll
be an early start to his coaching career,” said Lavin, who
has encouraged Hines to enter coaching when his playing days are
done. Hines likes the idea of eventually becoming a coach, wearing
a suit and tie, pacing up and down the sidelines. He just play to
get a couple of games in first.