University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Ginyard Quietly Copes
January 30, 2009 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Jan. 30, 2009
By Adam Lucas
Thirty minutes before one of this week's practices, the Smith Center training room is lively. Deon Thompson is talking. Tyler Zeller checks in. Mike Copeland, as always, is entertaining.
Just on the other side of the door, though, Marcus Ginyard sits quietly alone in trainer Chris Hirth's office, working his injured foot back and forth on a contraption that's not even yet available for public sale.
This medieval-looking device--called the Treadwell, it's designed by a Wilmington orthopedic surgeon and designed to warm up the muscles in the ankle, calf and foot without pressuring the bones of the foot--has been Ginyard's frequent companion over the last three weeks. He hasn't been able to practice, and in many cases while his teammates have been on the practice court, he's been working with strength and conditioning coach Jonas Sahratian in a different part of the Smith Center.
The work with Sahratian and Hirth isn't entirely focused on his foot. He's also trying to strengthen the muscles in his toes, arch, and even hips to make sure his foot isn't forced to bear any unusual loads.
"It's been a little tedious," Ginyard says. "You're in a room with no windows spending two straight hours with Jonas while your teammates are on the court, and you know you're not doing anything to help them. There are times that it's tough to get excited about coming down here."
Just then, one room over, Copeland breaks out into a rapid-fire description of...what, exactly, it's impossible to tell. But it's easy to tell that it's hilarious.
"Anytime something isn't going well for you, you want to be around Cope," Ginyard says. "That's something I've been thinking a lot about over the last 10 days, about how it would feel with those guys gone."
"Those guys" are Copeland and the rest of Ginyard's senior classmates. This year was supposed to be a fun-filled final curtain for all of them, but instead the group is missing a member. And with less than two months left in the regular season and a cumulative stat line that reads 37 minutes played, four shots attempted, and eight rebounds, Ginyard has acknowledged over the last two weeks it's at least a consideration that he might not be able to play again this season.
This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. An ankle injury pushed back the foot surgery that might otherwise have happened over the summer until October. First, the coaching staff optimistically hoped he'd be back in early December; he eventually played in his first game at home against Rutgers on Dec. 28.
But that Ginyard wasn't the same as the old Ginyard, the one who was active on the offensive boards, slashed to the basket, and played quality defense. After three games, he met with Roy Williams in the coach's office.
"Coach and I agreed I wasn't making the plays the `old Marcus' would've made," Ginyard says. "I wasn't as quick or explosive. I wasn't able to get into the flow of the game as easily.
"On offense, it wasn't as bad because you can make straighter cuts. But on defense, having to push off my left foot to cut guys off on the sideline, I was always a step behind. I couldn't get going fast enough from a stopped position. I knew this wasn't going to be easy, but the main thing that was disturbing was that I was still having the same pain I had before the surgery."
That pain led to another x-ray, which showed no structural damage. Doctors felt the pain could be caused by scar tissue, which meant more rehab. Ginyard has lost nearly 15 pounds, going from 230 pounds to 218, in an effort to reduce the stress on his foot.
Decision time is nearing. Playing in one more game would reduce his ability to get an automatic redshirt from the NCAA and would require an appeal, which can be unpredictable. Until the decision is made, though, Ginyard knows he'll continue to hear the same questions.
"It's funny," he says. "People ask each other, `How you doing?' all the time. You never think about it. But when you're being asked, `How you doing? How's your foot?' all the time, it's different. I don't know the answer, and I don't know if I'm going to play this year. It's tough to hear that every day. It's a fine line, because everyone who is asking is genuinely worried about you. But it's so difficult to hear that question all the time.
"I realized after my surgery that my senior year wasn't going to be exactly as I had hoped. But just before the Wake Forest game, that's when I really started to worry about this year. That's when I started to get nervous about how my senior year was going to turn out."
Adam Lucas is the publisher of Tar Heel Monthly. He is also the author or co-author of four books on Carolina basketball.
