Jan. 15, 2005
The Nova Notebook, by Villanova director of media relations Mike Sheridan, appears each week beginning in the fall and continues through the basketball season. This week we check in with junior forward/center Jason Fraser.
Seated on a chair on the home team bench at the Pavilion following a recent practice session, Jason Fraser was describing his latest injury, this one a fracture of the navicular bone in his right hand, to someone when Fraser's teammate Allan Ray approached. Ray shook Fraser's left hand, looked back at the other individual and shook his head.
It was a gesture that seems to sum up Fraser's health situation.
"It really is," stated head coach Jay Wright, "unbelievable."
The surgery Fraser underwent on Friday afternoon in Philadelphia was his fourth such procedure since arriving at Villanova as a McDonald's All-American in the fall of 2002. The first two were to his knees in April of 2003 to help alleviate chronic tendonitis in both joints. Last October, Fraser underwent an arthoscopic procedure on his left knee and then missed several weeks of preseason work. Now comes this surgery on the heels of the Amityville, N.Y., native's best game as a collegian at Providence on Jan. 11 (25 points, 13 rebounds).
"It happened when we blitzed a guy out near center court in the second half," Fraser recalled. "I believe a player from Providence fell on me. I felt pain right away but I kept playing. It hurt pretty bad but sometimes when you do something like that it can go away."
Alas, this one didn't fade away. Fraser could be seen flexing the wrist in the locker room after the game as he spoke with reporters. (Upon seeing the scene of Fraser seated on a training table surrounded by the media, his teammates dubbed him "Leon" after the recurring character on several television commercials).
Before the team boarded the charter bus, Fraser alerted head athletic trainer Jeff Pierce about his wrist.
"I really didn't feel that it was a big deal," Fraser stated.
When Fraser visited noted hand specialist Dr. Randall Culp on Thursday morning the fracture was revealed. Surgery to insert a screw to expedite the healing process was completed on Friday.
Fraser is out indefinitely. The hand will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
As has been his wont through his litany of injuries, Fraser remains incredibly upbeat. He was back at practice on Thursday, hand wrapped, joking with teammates and coaches.
Some have pointed to the cruel irony of the recent setback coming so quickly upon the heels of what appeared to be a breakout performance in an 83-78 overtime victory at Providence.
"The way I look at it, it kind of makes feel good that I played that way right before this happened," Fraser stated. "Imagine if this came after a terrible defensive effort on my part. It would be something to live with for as long as I'm out.
"It made me feel good individually and it's good for the team. People always tell you to play every game like it's your last. Well, we're doing that. We're going all out.
"I always say you can't worry about things you can't control. Just knowing that the Providence game is there is proof that we are actually doing what we say we want to do. It shows that we are men with our words to each other."
This is not the time of year to face the loss of multiple weeks of the season. Villanova is 9-2 overall, 2-1 in the Big East and seemed poised to overcome the loss of Sumpter to a sprained knee earlier in the month. Now comes the loss of another big man on the interior of the Wildcats' defense.
Still Fraser peeks through the dark clouds to locate positives.
"After the last game when the reporters were talking about Curtis, I said this team is going to keep moving ahead," Fraser stated. "This team has a common philosophy on how to win. We want to rebound, we want to defend and we always want to play hard. When one person leaves, well, everyone else is doing it, so let's just keep going.
"We have some talented players here. The points can be made up. It's the attitude and effort that are important."
A small sign of the bond on the 2004-05 Wildcats could be seen outside the Villanova locker room prior to the start of the second half in Providence. Sumpter, dressed in street clothes, pulled his frontcourt mates (Marcus Austin, Will Sheridan, Fraser and Chris Charles) aside in a hallway. He gave a brief impassioned talk to his teammates about what he felt needed to take place in the second half before they went out to warm up.
"That's what leaders do," said Fraser. "Curt is a great leader. Some leaders lead verbally and others do it by example. Curt does it all. That kind of leadership from one of your teammates makes you a better player."
While he is absent from the lineup, Fraser plans to do all he can to urge his teammates on as Sumpter did for him on Tuesday. He plans to be at every practice, keeping his legs strong and maintaining aerobic conditioning. The fact that this injury is to his hand will not prevent him from working on the legs that have hitherto been his largest injury hurdle.
"It's important to keep your focus so that you are as ready as you can be when the opportunity comes to return," said Fraser.
No one is exactly certain what the time frame will be. Physicians believe the surgery went well and described the fracture as "very stable". Yet what that means in terms of number of games missed is not easy to assess at this point. For the foreseeable future, though, Fraser is again a spectator.
As he concluded his conversation, Fraser got up and walked over to see Sumpter. It was mentioned that a television crew would be in town next week and hoped to profile these two friends in a piece to air later this season. When informed the network sought an informal setting for this interview, Sumpter had an idea.
"They should do it," he said, "in the training room."
It's a place Jason Fraser - and a number of the 2004-05 Wildcats - are all too familiar with.
