Playing in a pickup basketball game with his teammates on a Thursday night, just two weeks before the men's basketball season opener, 6'0" freshman guard Jeremy Black leapt for a rebound.
Coming down, he bumped into another player before landing on his left leg awkwardly. Immediately upon hitting the ground, Black knew his knee was torn.
"We were playing and I went up for a rebound and I landed pretty goofy on my left foot," Black said. "When I landed, I could just feel my knee tear. It was the grossest feeling of my life."
The tear that Black felt was due to a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) in his left knee. The injury will require reconstructive surgery that will keep Black out for the season.
"The surgery's next week," Black said. "I'm traveling to St. Louis with the team [for the opener against Washington University] and then coming back and going home early for Thanksgiving to have the surgery."
Black's injury is a disappointment for a Tufts team that expected him to contribute immediately.
Playing for Jamesville-DeWitt High School in New York last year, Black scored 15.9 points per game and earned a spot on the first team of the New York Class A All-State team. Also on that team was A.J. Price, a freshman who will play for the defending national champion Connecticut Huskies this year.
Black's team won the New York state championship last year and the Jumbos were hoping he could bring some of that success to their team.
"I was going to come in and do what they needed me to do," Black said. "We weren't too deep with our guards this year. It was pretty apparent that freshmen would have to contribute at the guard position."
The Jumbos will have to find another way to replace guard/forward Deyvehn East and guard Eric Mack, both of whom graduated in the spring. East led the team in points per game while Mack was the assists leader. Each logged over 26 minutes a game for the Jumbos.
While the team works on addressing that problem, Black will work hard to get back on the court next year in good shape.
"[After the surgery] I'm going to just start to rehab," Black said. "One of the things with a torn ACL is you can't rush back because you'll tear it again. You have to wait for the tissue to scar over, so it can heal completely."
Black, looking ahead to a seven-month rehabilitation process, is just glad that he will still have three years of basketball ahead after this one.
"It's unfortunate, but I'm just happy that it happened my freshman year," Black said.<$>
