An ice pack strapped to his right shoulder made it look like Wayne Simien had hurled eight innings and been lifted for a pinch-hitter.
Simien isn’t a baseball pitcher, though. He’s a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward on Kansas University’s basketball team, and he had just played in his first game in six weeks.
“I just wanted to come out and be solid,” Simien said after the Jayhawks’ sluggish 70-51 victory Sunday afternoon over Iowa State in Allen Fieldhouse.
For someone making a comeback from a dislocated shoulder, Simien looked more than solid to me. He looked like he hadn’t missed a beat since accidentally catching his right hand on the net in the UMKC game Jan. 4 at Kemper Arena and pulling his shoulder out of joint.
KU coach Roy Williams knows better, of course.
“He’s not the same Wayne Simien who stopped playing in Kemper Arena, that’s for sure,” he said.
It’s a stamina thing, and that, Williams added, “will take awhile.”
Still, on a day when Raef LaFrentz received a standing ovation before the game and 175 other former Jayhawks received standing ovations at halftime, Simien’s standing O was more meaningful than poignant because it signaled the Jayhawks, now all alone in first place in Big 12 Conference standings, are as close to full strength as they’re probably going to be for the stretch run.
We knew all along Simien was going to play Sunday. We just didn’t know when.
“I definitely had some nerves in my stomach,” Simien said.
Not for long. About 21¼2 minutes had ticked off the game clock when Williams sent Simien in, much to the delight of the throng of Sunday nooners. Thirty-nine seconds later, Simien scored. Four minutes later he was back on the bench.
The official box score credited Simien with seven points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes, and Williams will take seven points and seven rebounds off the bench anytime he can get them.
Although Simien was involved in a pseudo-fracas with 11:01 remaining — the incident that led to Iowa State’s Jackson Vroman becoming the answer to a trivia question by accumulating six fouls — the watershed moment of the Leavenworth High product’s comeback actually occurred less than two minutes later.
With 9:49 showing, Simien was hammered from behind by ISU’s Marcus Jefferson.
“That hard foul scared me,” Williams said.
It scared Simien, too, but Jefferson’s jarring was probably the best thing that happened to Simien all afternoon.
“It tweaked my shoulder a little bit,” Simien said. “But it helped my confidence because I don’t think I can take a harder shot than that.”
Nevertheless, Williams pulled Simien 25 seconds later, and the first day of his second season was over.
For the record, Simien is wearing a Cadlow Stabilizer, a $250 device that wraps around his chest, attaches to a cuff around his biceps and is strapped to a girdle. The stabilizer allows him full range of motion, although doctors have suggested he not hang on the rim or attempt to block shots.
“It’s pretty light. It’s just uncomfortable,” Simien said. “It hooks around my chest like a parachute, and with it hooked to my tights, they come up around my neck every time I shoot.”
You may notice that after Simien shoots, he might look like your Aunt Fanny when she adjusts her foundation after arising from an easy chair, but that’s really a small price to pay considering the alternative.
A couple of weeks ago, Simien thought he might have to go under the knife again — he had similar surgery during his senior year in high school — and that was a daunting prospect because the knife option would necessitate an eight-month rehab.
Later, however, doctors prescribed rehab and the brace for the remainder of the season, although they made no promises about self-healing.
“I think eventually it will have to be fixed,” Simien said, “but we’ll talk about that after the season.”
In the meantime, Simien’s demeanor is stratospheric.
“When you’re injured, it feels like you’re not part of the team,” he said. “You feel bad when you win and worse when you lose.”
What does it mean to have Simien back?
Perhaps Jeff Graves, the man who replaced him in the starting lineup, said it best.
“Now we have a real, real great chance,” Graves said.
A chance at what, Graves didn’t say, but it’s hardly a mystery.
