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University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Manley Waiting And Working
May 26, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
The Tar Heel big man has a mature perspective on his rehab.
By Adam Lucas
Sterling Manley is familiar with patience.
The Tar Heel big man was an important piece of the post rotation as a freshman, averaging 10.0 minutes per game and ranking fourth on the team in offensive rebounds. He was a reliable free throw shooter (81.6 percent in Atlantic Coast Conference games), a physical presence (fourth on the team in free throw attempts) and had a pair of double-digit rebounding games.
You'd forgotten some of those numbers, hadn't you? Manley's promising freshman campaign has been obscured by frustrating sophomore and junior seasons that saw him participate in just 18 of Carolina's 69 games. He's battled lingering knee pain, thought he was making progress, then had maddening setbacks.
"What people don't know is that for most of my sophomore season, I felt like I was playing on one leg," Manley says. "Then I started having some swelling, so I had to readjust and figure out what the problem was. Sometimes you have to take some time and do something in the immediate future to get your body right to be able to return in the long-term."
That's exactly what he did, as the Ohio native underwent a procedure on Dec. 13, 2019, to repair knee cartilage in two different spots. That left him on the bench for the remainder of a disappointing 2019-20 campaign and preparing for a summer of rehab in Chapel Hill.
Until, that is, the entire world changed while the Tar Heels were in Greensboro for the ACC Tournament. After Carolina's 81-53 defeat to Syracuse on March 11, most of the players expected a typical end-of-season address from Roy Williams. Remember, they were on the court while the rest of us were on our phones during every timeout watching events unfold. The locker room message was very different than they anticipated.
"Coach came in the locker room, and we were thinking he was going to talk about the game," Manley says. "It was none of that. He talked to us about all the breaking news that had come out that night, about the NBA sending everyone home. By the time we got back to the hotel for our meal that night he was talking to us about what the University was planning to do, and he started talking about us going home. We couldn't believe it. We were like, 'We're going home?' We got back to Chapel Hill the next morning and within two or three days everyone was headed home."
That forced Manley to change his rehab plans. As he freely admits, the 18- or 19-year-old version of Sterling Manley might not have been particularly well-equipped to handle the freedom that came with rehab at home in Ohio. But the older, wiser version—Manley would be a senior this coming season if the NCAA hadn't granted his medical redshirt request, which means he'll be a redshirt junior for the 2020-21 season—of Manley found it challenging and even a little rewarding.
"It was really strange at first," he says. "But then I realized it gave me more time to focus on my body and it held me more accountable to do my workouts and rehab. The biggest thing, by far, is communication. I've been trying to talk to Jonas (Sahratian) and Doug (Halverson) at least three or four times per week. Each and every day when I wake up, I'm trying to get better. Even if it's just riding my bike around the neighborhood, I want to do something each and every day to get better.
"When we're on campus, you kind of take it for granted, because you know your schedule is planned out for you and at a certain time of day you'll be in the weight room or at practice. When you are on your own, it's up to you to either do it yourself or be a step behind when we all come back."
At this point, no one knows when team activities will resume. Campus is closed; a Smith Center that would normally be buzzing at this time of year as former players start to return for the annual pickup games is quiet.
Manley's sole focus is on building muscle around his knee and quadriceps. He's doing frequent motion and mobility work, and while he doesn't have a timeline, he wants to be able to participate in some fashion by October if the Tar Heels are practicing—perhaps not full speed, but more than he was able to do last season when he mostly just watched.
But at this point he's also well aware that plans can change, both in basketball and life.
"What's going on right now in the world is bigger than basketball," he says. "First and foremost, we want to be able to get back on campus. Then we want to figure out the most safe way we can get going with school and workouts. The basketball stuff will come. This is uncharted territory for everybody."
Sterling Manley is familiar with patience.
The Tar Heel big man was an important piece of the post rotation as a freshman, averaging 10.0 minutes per game and ranking fourth on the team in offensive rebounds. He was a reliable free throw shooter (81.6 percent in Atlantic Coast Conference games), a physical presence (fourth on the team in free throw attempts) and had a pair of double-digit rebounding games.
You'd forgotten some of those numbers, hadn't you? Manley's promising freshman campaign has been obscured by frustrating sophomore and junior seasons that saw him participate in just 18 of Carolina's 69 games. He's battled lingering knee pain, thought he was making progress, then had maddening setbacks.
"What people don't know is that for most of my sophomore season, I felt like I was playing on one leg," Manley says. "Then I started having some swelling, so I had to readjust and figure out what the problem was. Sometimes you have to take some time and do something in the immediate future to get your body right to be able to return in the long-term."
That's exactly what he did, as the Ohio native underwent a procedure on Dec. 13, 2019, to repair knee cartilage in two different spots. That left him on the bench for the remainder of a disappointing 2019-20 campaign and preparing for a summer of rehab in Chapel Hill.
Until, that is, the entire world changed while the Tar Heels were in Greensboro for the ACC Tournament. After Carolina's 81-53 defeat to Syracuse on March 11, most of the players expected a typical end-of-season address from Roy Williams. Remember, they were on the court while the rest of us were on our phones during every timeout watching events unfold. The locker room message was very different than they anticipated.
"Coach came in the locker room, and we were thinking he was going to talk about the game," Manley says. "It was none of that. He talked to us about all the breaking news that had come out that night, about the NBA sending everyone home. By the time we got back to the hotel for our meal that night he was talking to us about what the University was planning to do, and he started talking about us going home. We couldn't believe it. We were like, 'We're going home?' We got back to Chapel Hill the next morning and within two or three days everyone was headed home."
That forced Manley to change his rehab plans. As he freely admits, the 18- or 19-year-old version of Sterling Manley might not have been particularly well-equipped to handle the freedom that came with rehab at home in Ohio. But the older, wiser version—Manley would be a senior this coming season if the NCAA hadn't granted his medical redshirt request, which means he'll be a redshirt junior for the 2020-21 season—of Manley found it challenging and even a little rewarding.
"It was really strange at first," he says. "But then I realized it gave me more time to focus on my body and it held me more accountable to do my workouts and rehab. The biggest thing, by far, is communication. I've been trying to talk to Jonas (Sahratian) and Doug (Halverson) at least three or four times per week. Each and every day when I wake up, I'm trying to get better. Even if it's just riding my bike around the neighborhood, I want to do something each and every day to get better.
"When we're on campus, you kind of take it for granted, because you know your schedule is planned out for you and at a certain time of day you'll be in the weight room or at practice. When you are on your own, it's up to you to either do it yourself or be a step behind when we all come back."
At this point, no one knows when team activities will resume. Campus is closed; a Smith Center that would normally be buzzing at this time of year as former players start to return for the annual pickup games is quiet.
Manley's sole focus is on building muscle around his knee and quadriceps. He's doing frequent motion and mobility work, and while he doesn't have a timeline, he wants to be able to participate in some fashion by October if the Tar Heels are practicing—perhaps not full speed, but more than he was able to do last season when he mostly just watched.
But at this point he's also well aware that plans can change, both in basketball and life.
"What's going on right now in the world is bigger than basketball," he says. "First and foremost, we want to be able to get back on campus. Then we want to figure out the most safe way we can get going with school and workouts. The basketball stuff will come. This is uncharted territory for everybody."
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