Hassan Martin to miss remainder of the season

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

Yes, I have chronic pain. Foot problems, 2 knee surgeries, and now some arthritis creeping into my shoulder. I'm not even 50 yet. So I deal with it. I'm not sure how my comment is selfish. My comment may come across as insensitive, certainly yes. (Although I did offer a disclaimer that I'm not criticizing his toughness.) But I'm not sure where my selfishness enters the equation. Selfishness would mean that I personally have something to gain by my comment. What am I gaining by making my statement?

But it does sound like you're saying that if URI were going somewhere this season then you think he'd still be playing and you would be severely disappointed in Martin if he had thrown in the towel on a season where URI was going to the NCAA tournament. Am I implying correctly on your statement?

Trust me, I'm not picking a fight over this. I'm just trying to peel back the layers of sentiment on this injury and this season from folks.

[Rhody Guy]

So I think if he continued to play and stress the knee he would be at risk of incurring an injury similar to Blake Griffin his rookie year or Greg Oden. Don't quote me on that, I am also not a Dr, but I think it is a real risk.

[RhowdyRam02]

My guess (purely a guess) is that if URI was having a better season then he'd play thru the pain/discomfort. However, I'll say this and get criticized (which I'm prepared for) for it considering I'm not a doctor and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night but...

With less than a handful of games left, I'm not sure what sitting him out at this point does for him. I don't think he's at risk for doing any permanent, long term damage. He's played thru it to this point, although he's been limited. He's got all off-season to rest his injury...is another 4 games really going to make the difference in recovery for 2016-'17?

Maybe I'm all by myself thinking that way but perhaps there are others who feel similarly? By the way, this is not a criticism of Martin's toughness. I'm sure it's decision of coaches, trainers, doctors, and the player.

Like Ace said, you do perhaps risk a more permanent injury, which is unnecessarily aggressive this season and it seems like he's been having an increasingly more difficult time dealing with the injury.

[rambone 78]

Why possibly jeopardize Hassan's senior season by playing in a few meaningless games now?

It's obvious that he's not helping the team on the floor at this point. His numbers were declining fast.

Without significant rest, he wasn't going to get better.

[RhowdyRam02]

But it does sound like you're saying that if URI were going somewhere this season then you think he'd still be playing and you would be severely disappointed in Martin if he had thrown in the towel on a season where URI was going to the NCAA tournament. Am I implying correctly on your statement?

This is pure speculation, but I imagine if we were truly playing for the tournament this year he would have gotten more rest before this point, both because of the higher stakes for later on and because in that scenario we would have EC healthy and be more able to weather his absence temporarily. With our current situation the play was what we did. Hope Hassan could ride out the injury so we could have the best possible seeding for the A10 tournament and give ourselves the best punchers chance possible. I don't think it was Martin throwing in the towel so much as his body already gave the program as much as it possibly could and Dan with the trainers realizing it was time to shut him down.

[Rhodymob05]

This hurts, but we still have a team to root for. Hope the guys don't give up. They pretty much have nothing to lose at this point so I hope they give it their all. Plus It's kind of lame, but PC falling apart helps a little

[Running Ram]

Def don't want Hass playing hurt at this point and it gets the young guys valuable experience, they should be hungry enough to keep competing and give us plenty of good reason to pay attention. Obviously not the most original thoughts, but my feelings on the matter.

[skwalk47]

When all hope is lost, there is only relief.

[Seawrightspostgame]

Have to factor in the offseason for these guys. Its best that the whole team is healthy early enough to be able to get better in the offseason.

Good luck to him and the rest.

Maybe the team can get lucky in Brooklyn with some combination of the remaining players playing out of their mind and the rest of the league falling apart. Not even win the whole thing. Just win a couple in exciting fashion and then see them next year.

[Dre3000]

Even if this team was a bubble team I'd be willing to bet Hassan would still sit. As stated before this sounds like Hassan has an undisplaced fracture which means additional stress and/or one bad fall could lead to a complete break which would require surgery. The difference between the two in recovery is like an additional 3-4 MONTHS. The only way I could see him playing through is if he was a senior with no future career in basketball!

I for one am glad that he will rest for the required time to heal!

[adam914]

Yeah, this isn't just tendinitis anymore, he would be sitting no matter what. It was one thing to try and play through it when they thought it was just tendinitis.

[ATPTourFan]

Love it how now even the medical staff (both of URI and partners of URI) are questioned by a our KeaneyBlue WebMD friends.

Patellar stress fractures aren't something you can manage like taping a gimpy ankle. Basketball is a game where explosive jumping, landing and sprinting are required (you've seen a healthy Hass flying all over to block shots, right?). Those explosive movements require all the anterior (front) tendons and ligaments to be securely fastened.

Hass' high ankle sprain compensation put so much force on his knee that it broke his knee cap. Attempting to play may result in a displaced fracture (surgery) or another compensation-related injury elsewhere (roll the dice).

Dre and Adam are correct -- Hass would be out no matter what situation the team was in right now.