Somewhere stashed in a drawer or perhaps in a closet in the Kansas University athletic department’s training area is a shoulder brace, slightly used.
As far as Wayne Simien is concerned, the infernal device can gather as much dust as the rug under his bed.
“That was a contraption,” Simien said. “I’m glad I’m going to be able to keep my wing loose this year.”
That’s the plan, anyway. After missing 22 games of the 2002-2003 season with a shoulder injury, the 6-foot-9 Simien is contemplating an injury-free junior season and never again having to wear a brace.
Simien says he is completely recovered from the corrective surgery he underwent last spring in New York City after suffering a dislocation when he caught his hand in a net during a game Jan. 4 against UMKC in Kansas City’s Kemper Arena.
First-year coach Bill Self won’t say Simien is 100 percent, but he likes what he has seen so far of the muscular 255-pound post player from Leavenworth.
“He’s not all the way back, but right now he’s strong,” Self said. “He’s done a great job of getting his body ready.”
Getting his body ready was one thing, preparing his mind was another. Physical rehabilitation and mental rehab were animals of different colors when Simien was finally cleared to step on the court for live scrimmaging.
“At first I was a guard out there, jacking up threes,” Simien said, smiling. “I didn’t want to bang too much. But I got over that.”
Banging is one of Simien’s strong suits. He averaged more than eight rebounds a game in the 16 games he played — the last four for minimal minutes — last season. Simien can shoot, too. He led the Jayhawks in shooting percentage at .646 while averaging nearly 15 points a game. Simien posted seven double-doubles and was the Jayhawks’ boards leader eight times.
As a sophomore, he was well on his way to a breakthrough season after caddying for Nick Collison and Drew Gooden during his freshman campaign. Then the freak entanglement with the net changed everything.
“You don’t anticipate getting hurt,” Simien said. “It’s not something you can control. If it happens, it happens.”
After missing 11 games, Simien attempted a comeback. He logged a few minutes in three games, then tweaked the injury seriously against Texas A&M and decided to pull the ripcord. Thus, he did not play in the Big 12 tournament and in six NCAA Tournament games, including the championship contest against Syracuse in the New Orleans Superdome.
“It was heart-breaking,” he said, “because everybody wants to play in the national championship game.”
With Collison and Kirk Hinrich now gone, not many expect the Jayhawks to be able to overcome the loss of two NBA lottery picks and return to the Final Four. Yet it may not be wise to rule out a school that has made back-to-back Final Four trips and is hungry to make it three in a row.
“Right now I’m focused on getting it done this year,” said Simien, who could be a lottery pick himself in 2004 if he remains healthy.
“That doesn’t mean anything,” Simien said of the NBA Draft. “I have two years left as a Jayhawk, and that’s what I’m concentrating on. That’ll come when it comes.”
In the meantime, Simien will not be treated with kid gloves as he dons the No. 1 big-man mantle worn by Drew Gooden two years ago and Collison last year.
“I don’t see us treating Wayne any differently than we would if he hadn’t had an injury,” Self said, “unless the doctors and trainers tell us not to.”