It was an impressive gait for the Kansas University junior basketball guard, who had been on crutches the past seven weeks after undergoing surgery in mid-April to repair a torn labrum in his right hip.

“For sure,” the 6-foot-7, 215-pound Juliette, Georgia, native said, asked if it was encouraging to walk under his own power Monday for the first time in a long time. “But I’ve still got to work. I’m just excited to get off these crutches and get back to work.”

The crutches were a huge annoyance for Greene, who had never experienced a serious injury before.

“You’ve got to depend on other people constantly, especially at the beginning. You can’t really do anything,” said Greene, who relied a lot on his girlfriend, “for rides, to eat, to go downstairs. It gets annoying. Getting off the crutches is definitely a happy day for me.”

His rehab thus far, which has included early-morning workouts with KU trainer Bill Cowgill, “has been pretty simple, try to isolate the hip. You’ve got to keep your glutes and hamstring, quads all strong while not aggravating the hip,” Greene said. “Right around five, six weeks is when I could start doing external rotation. That was big for me. I could start putting on my socks, putting on my shoes, clothes, things like that.”

Now he’ll step up the rehab.

“I have three more months of progress,” he said. “I can start jogging in the pool, get back to running, walking. I should be ready by the time practice starts (in October). When I mean ready, I mean full speed. That’s definitely a good thing.”

His surgery was performed by Dr. J.W. Thomas Byrd at Nashville Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center. The Tennessee Titans team doctor has authored textbooks on hip arthroscopy.

“He told me one of the Florida Gators football players was in right before me. He usually does two to three athletes a week at the high-major Div. I level. They always recover, come back fine,” Greene said.

Aside from chatting with his doctor, Greene said he hasn’t done much research on other players with past hip problems.

“I don’t think I want to look around. Aaron Hernandez (had the) same surgery, so that’s not good to look around,” Greene said, jokingly referring to the former New England Patriots player now in prison.

Greene said he actually had been suffering from the injury since the end of January, when he felt something pop in the hip area while stretching. The three-point bomber closed the season on a 4-for-26 three-point shooting slump (over nine games).

“I couldn’t get that lift off it (right leg), the power,” said Greene who averaged 5.7 points a game overall off 42.2 percent shooting — 40.4 from three (40 of 99). “It’s all about rhythm. I have no excuses how I shot, though. I still could make shots. I’ve got to get in the gym and work.”

He thinks he’ll be a threat this season.

“I think it’s always there,” he said of his outside shot. “I think I’ll definitely pick up where I left off during the middle of the season (he hit 17 of 24 threes during a seven-game stretch in league play) and hopefully keep moving from there. I’m just looking forward to our season. It’s time now. We have no excuses. We can’t look at being young or anything like that. Me, Frank (Mason), Wayne (Selden) are juniors. Perry (Ellis)’s a senior. Jamari (Traylor) is a senior. We have a ton of veterans. There’s no excuses.”