May 6, 2003

With the basketball season complete, the Nova Notebook now shifts into its off-season mode. Updates now will arrive monthly instead of weekly. The May edition chronicles the recuperation of freshman Jason Fraser after successful surgery on both knees on April 9 to remove loose cartilage and repair tendon damage.

To Jason Fraser, the simple tasks of daily life 2002-03 told much more about his physical condition than did the complex ones on display before thousands of people in basketball arenas across the land.

"I was struggling to go up and down steps," recalls Fraser. "I would stand aside to let people go ahead of me because it would take me so long to make my way."

The ritual was on display each time Fraser attended a Geography class. Teammates Gary Buchanan and Ricky Wright were in the same class and often the trio would gather outside the classroom afterward to walk to the Connelly Center or the Pavilion. Yet as the season wore on, Fraser found himself falling behind the pace of his pals.

"Finally, I just would tell them to go on ahead," he states. "I was walking like an old man."

So it was that a season that began with so much promise for a former McDonald's All-American ended with him in street clothes. After fighting knee troubles throughout the campaign, Fraser's condition steadily grew worse. By late February, his overcompensation for his left knee created a stress reaction in his foot. When he went to the sidelines with only three minutes gone in a game at Providence on Feb. 22, it was the most telling sign that the battle to play through the pain had failed.

Fraser did not suit up again for the Wildcats in 2002-03. He ended the campaign with a 7.1 ppg and 6.3 rpg average.

In many ways, Fraser's season mirrored that of his team and that is not a coincidence. When Villanova was at its best during a 5-0 start in Big East play, Fraser was too, averaging a shade under ten points and ten rebounds per outing. As Fraser's knees grew more painful and rendered him less effective in February, though, the 'Cats faded. After the Amityville (N.Y.) High School product went to the sidelines, Villanova won only one more game the rest of the way, going 1-6 without him.

"I think it was obvious to anyone who had seen Jason play in high school that he wasn't himself," said coach Jay Wright. "He tried to battle through it but the situation only grew worse."

Knee pain was not a totally unfamiliar sensation to Fraser. His rapid growth as a youth had tested the limits of his joints and knee pain sometimes came with it.

"I was in the sixth grade playing CYO (Catholic Youth League) basketball when I first felt it," he says. "I can remember them lifting me out of the car after games. But the doctors said I would eventually grow out of it."

As Fraser advanced through the school system, the knee pain would re-occur from time to time. That situation is not uncommon among young men, especially tall ones, pounding up and down 94 feet of hardwood each day. Fraser endured and no one was the wiser - he soared his way on to the McDonald's All-American list and became one of the most coveted prospects in the country.

Observers marveled at his athleticism and shot-blocking skill.

When he arrived at Villanova, though, the routine changed. Collegiate basketball requires a much larger time commitment than does its high school counterpart. Maximum effort was now a must each day and the strain on Fraser's delicate knee joints didn't take long to manifest itself.

"When we started practice in October I could feel it," states Fraser. "At the time they diagnosed it as simple tendonitis. But I had a feeling it was something beyond tendonitis. Some other guys on the team have tendonitis and I could see a significant difference between my situation and theirs."

Fraser was determined to overcome his predicament.

"When I set my mind to something, I want to be able accomplish it," he says.

For a while it appeared Fraser would glide past this challenge as he had so many others en route to Villanova. Athletic Trainer Jeff Pierce applied copious amounts of ice to his knees after each practice and Fraser took great care to baby his knees. He notched career highs of 24 points and 15 rebounds in a victory over Loyola Marymount in the opener of the Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout on Thanksgiving night. Later, his strong defense helped lift the 'Cats past Temple on New Year's Eve.

Yet as the game and practice counts mounted, so did Fraser's aches.

"For one thing, I couldn't jump off my left leg," states Fraser. "I hated warm-ups for that very reason. When I would be on the left side where you are supposed to take off on your left leg, I couldn't do it. It just got worse and worse.

"In the early part of the year I had good days and bad. But by the end of the year it felt like every day was a bad day. The only way I can describe it is to say that it felt like every time I tried to run or jump, someone was striking my knees with a metal pipe."

As Fraser's condition worsened, it became clear to Good that Fraser's best hope for a complete recovery was postseason surgery. However, Fraser initially had reservations about such a procedure.

"I wasn't fond of the idea of surgery when Dr. Good and Jeff first mentioned it," he says. "No one in my family had ever had surgery, except for when my uncle had ear surgery. I wasn't sure if that was what I wanted to do."

The knee woes took their toll on Fraser's psyche too. A normally ebullient teenager appeared more reserved as the Wildcats moved through February and Fraser's productive minutes on the court diminished.

"It was a lot of mental stress," says Fraser. "I knew what I was capable of doing but because I was hurt, I couldn't do it."

Sleep wasn't easy to come by either. If it wasn't the weight of his anxiety at work, the barking joints in his legs were enough to jolt him awake.

"I woke up in pain a lot of nights," he states. "That was common."

Fortunately for Fraser, he is an extremely grounded and faith-guided young man. Thanks to some timely support and friendship, he endured.

"A lot of it was Jeff (Pierce)," Fraser says. "Being able to talk to him about what I was going through was very helpful to me. I felt like he knew what I was going through."

The stress reaction in his foot was the beginning to the end of Fraser's freshman campaign. He was cleared to resume action on March 7 but sat out the final three games of the season as he served a suspension for his role in the telephone access code situation.

Shortly after the season ended in the National Invitation Tournament, Fraser sat down with Jay Wright and Pierce in the head coach's office to assess his health. By this point, Fraser's view on the prospect of surgery had shifted dramatically.

"The first option coach said I had was to continue to try to play through the pain," says Fraser. "I jumped up and said 'anything but that.' Surgery sounded a lot better to me then because I just didn't want to go through that kind of year again."

On April 9, Fraser underwent a two hour procedure at Bryn Mawr Hospital. Good cleaned out loose cartilage and repaired damaged tendons. Save for a bad reaction to anesthesia ("I was sick for the next 24 hours"), all went as planned. The projected recovery period is 3-4 months and Good believes Fraser can return to basketball in September, though Fraser hopes his progress will dictate a shorter recovery period.

"I'm doing very well right now," says Fraser, nearly one month into his recovery. "The knee braces I have worn since the surgery are due to come off on Wednesday (May 7). I'm very happy about that."

Fraser's rehabilitation period is well underway. He plans to remain on campus for summer school and continue to work his way back.

"It's a little disappointing that I can't work on my game this summer," he says, "but the big thing is to get back to full health."

And yes, he is very much looking forward to a sophomore season where he hopes to display the gifts that injury prevented him from showcasing as a rookie.

"My own standards for myself are very high," he explains. "In the past I had always been able to overcome and overachieve. This past year I wasn't able to do that because I was going through the injuries. It's exciting to think about playing without pain and doing some of the things I know I am capable of.

"I wasn't hitting my potential last year. Hopefully, this will help me achieve what I want to. Only the future holds the answers to that."

It is Fraser's fervent hope that his repaired knees will allow him to keep pace with classmates, teammates and his own expectations.