Midway through the second half of their Final Four matchup against Duke, West Virginia's star forward Da`Sean Butler suffered what appears to be a serious knee injury.
On a drive to the basket, Butler planted while bracing to make contact with Brian Zoubek. Butler’s left knee buckled as it happened, and he was on the ground in obvious pain for minutes afterward. He has not appeared to put any weight on the leg, and until diagnosis, speculation about the injury is going to revolve around severe structural problems in the knee.
After the injury, coach Bob Huggins came onto the court and consoled Butler. Consoled isn't even the right word; Huggins had him in his arms (your clever "Huggy Bear" reference goes right here, 80% of sports bloggers). Huggins stayed with his player until he was helped off the court, not bearing any weight on the left leg.
The good news, however, is that according to Jeff Goodman, the preliminary diagnosis is just a sprained knee.
Da'Sean Butler's Knee Injury Is Bad: Torn ACL, Sprained MCL
Da'Sean Butler's injury, which he suffered near the end of Saturday night's Final Four game against Duke, looked terribly painful, but for a time we had reason to believe it was simply a sprained knee.
No more. Adam Zagoria breaks the unfortunate news:
I hope I speak for all of us by wishing the best for Butler. A torn anterior cruciate ligament, it goes without saying, is a very serious injury. It's too early to tell what his long-term outlook is, but as soon as we have more information, we'll pass it along.
For reactions from Mountaineers fans, you'll want to check out our West Virginia blog, The Smoking Musket.
Apr 04 2:52p by Jon Bois - 0 comments