My injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it made me become an even better student than I already was. During my healing process, I was hanging out with and studying alongside non-athletic students and I became just a regular person and not a North Carolina basketball player. That helped me put things in perspective. In this day and age, a player can get hurt and come back so much more quickly. The medical profession has grown in leaps and bounds and it's really amazing what types of treatment are available to athletes.
People today suffer back or ankle injuries and they are able to return in a couple of weeks.
Years ago, those were considered possible season or even career-ending injuries. From a team's point of view, losing a player doesn't have to be catastrophic. It sometimes forces a coach to play someone who wouldn't have otherwise received key minutes and that youngster can gain some very valuable playing time. There's no substitute for experience and sometimes that experience doesn't show itself until the NCAA Tournament. There are a lot of coaches around the nation hoping that's indeed the case next month.