While his teammates were playing basketball and working to improve their skills, J.R. Giddens settled for watching films from last season and waiting for the new one.
“It was really frustrating,” said Giddens, Kansas University’s sophomore swingman who had offseason surgeries on his left foot and right knee.
“But at same time, God does everything for a reason. I’m not going to let it set me back any. Obviously, I didn’t have one of the greatest summers because I was injured and unable to play. At the same time, I think I did all the little things like lifting weights and trying to gain some strength.”
Giddens showed during Saturday’s intrasquad scrimmage he was rusty, but still effective. He scored 11 points off 4-of-10 shooting and hit three three-pointers.
“They say my foot is healed 100 percent,” he said. “My knee feels good.”
The 6-foot-5 Giddens used his time well in the weight room, bulking up to 205 pounds. He weighed 181 when he reported to campus last summer.
But Giddens knew he wasn’t in game shape heading into KU’s four-game trip to Canada this weekend. He had surgery the summer before his freshman year to repair a stress fracture in his left foot, but the pin inserted during that procedure proved to be too small for his size 16 foot.
Shortly after a 79-71 regional-final loss to Georgia Tech ended KU’s season March 28 at St. Louis, Giddens underwent a second operation on the foot. This time a longer, wider pin was inserted to better support Giddens’ fractured foot.
He later had another surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.
Pickup games normally are a big part of the summer experience for KU basketball players, but Giddens spent part of his offseason on crutches and later had a protective boot on his foot.
He didn’t go home to Oklahoma City, though.
“I stayed the whole summer because I had to rehab, and I figured if I’m not playing basketball I should try to get in the weight room and get a little bigger and get some strength, do something to make myself better instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself,” said Giddens, who also watched film of himself a few times a week to see what he could improve on and also watched tape of teammates Keith Langford and Aaron Miles to see what he could learn from the upperclassmen.
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Of course, you just can’t keep some players out of the gym — even when they can’t play.
“I have to have a ball in my hands,” Giddens said. “I see my teammates playing and having fun. When I got my release to play and a I got a chance to play pickup it was so good getting fouled and catching the elbow. I was like, ‘Man, I’m back in action. I’ve got blood coming out.’ Being out there in a war on the court was a lot of fun.”
While Giddens gained strength in the weight room, his overall conditioning suffered.
“I don’t know if I’ll be 100 percent for this trip,” said Giddens, who wasn’t cleared to play until last month.
Giddens, who averaged 11.3 points a game his rookie season, is one of four returning starters along with guards Miles, Langford and post player Wayne Simien. But Giddens isn’t taking his role for granted.
“Who has a spot on this team? Wayne, Keith, Aaron,” Giddens said. “Other than that, it’s up for grabs. We have to fight for our spots.”
This year’s crop of freshmen could cut into the veterans’ playing time, but Giddens is eager to show the newcomers the ropes and thinks the Canada trip will be a good bonding experience.
“I think the thing is for us to come together in Canada,” he said of the trip, which starts with a 2 p.m. battle against British Columbia on Saturday. “We have a chance to be a Final Four team, a national championship team. We need to bond on this trip and really come together as a family. We have to bring the freshmen under our wings and show them how important it is for us to be a family.”
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Downs switches schools: Bothell, Wash., high school forward Micah Downs has switched high schools for his senior year. Downs, who committed to Kansas last May, will attend Juanita High School in Kirkland, Wash., and play for first-year head coach Ezechiel Bambolo.
Downs averaged 20 points, 12 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.5 blocks for the Cougars last season after moving to Bothell from Montana.
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Manning honored: ESPN has put together a list of athletes who “transcended their teams and sports and amazed us with the greatest individual seasons over the past 25 years. Danny Manning’s performance during the 1987-88 season was cited as the 36th best season of all-time. The complete list is on espn.com.
