Spring Break
The Price of pain
After a career of some ups and too many downs, senior has one last shot to end on high note
Kevin Duffy
Issue date: 11/14/08 Section: Husky Hoopla
When it happened, it didn't look like much.
A.J. Price simply planted his left leg to juke San Diego's Tremaine Johnson and went sprawling to the ground.
He was going to get up. He was going to walk it off and keep playing. He was going to lead fourth-seeded UConn to a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. That's how it was supposed to happen. But it didn't.
When Price couldn't put any weight on his left leg, the most dangerous three-letter acronym in sports crossed the minds of UConn fans and players: ACL.
An MRI the next day confirmed what the world suspected - Price, UConn's Second-Team All-American point guard, a player who had battled through so much adversity to reach that point, had suffered a torn ACL. It seemed like the cherry on top of a brutal string of misfortune, a fitting ending to a career that just wasn't meant to be.
"I'm really concerned about A.J.," coach Jim Calhoun said after the first-round loss to San Diego. "Particularly with the things he's been through and the comeback he's made, to have something like that happen."
Price's career took a wrong turn from the get-go.
When Price came to UConn via Amityville, N.Y., he was touted as one of the best high school players in the nation. He was the missing piece to a squad with enough talent to win a national championship. Calhoun called him the "best player in the program" as a true freshman.
Before Price ever played a game, however, he suffered a rare brain hemorrhage that not only kept him out of the entire season, but nearly killed him.
The road back was a struggle. Only after a year of extensive rehabilitation was Price finally declared healthy enough to play again.
Weeks later, just prior to the beginning of the fall semester in 2005, Price made what he calls "the biggest mistake of his life."
He and fellow point guard Marcus Williams, now with the Golden State Warriors, stole five laptops from a dormitory and attempted to sell them at a Mansfield pawn shop. Price was arrested, suspended from school and ordered to serve 400 hours of community service. For the second straight season, Price was a spectator, merely a faceless name in a UConn program that was moving on without him.
A.J. Price simply planted his left leg to juke San Diego's Tremaine Johnson and went sprawling to the ground.
He was going to get up. He was going to walk it off and keep playing. He was going to lead fourth-seeded UConn to a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. That's how it was supposed to happen. But it didn't.
When Price couldn't put any weight on his left leg, the most dangerous three-letter acronym in sports crossed the minds of UConn fans and players: ACL.
An MRI the next day confirmed what the world suspected - Price, UConn's Second-Team All-American point guard, a player who had battled through so much adversity to reach that point, had suffered a torn ACL. It seemed like the cherry on top of a brutal string of misfortune, a fitting ending to a career that just wasn't meant to be.
"I'm really concerned about A.J.," coach Jim Calhoun said after the first-round loss to San Diego. "Particularly with the things he's been through and the comeback he's made, to have something like that happen."
Price's career took a wrong turn from the get-go.
When Price came to UConn via Amityville, N.Y., he was touted as one of the best high school players in the nation. He was the missing piece to a squad with enough talent to win a national championship. Calhoun called him the "best player in the program" as a true freshman.
Before Price ever played a game, however, he suffered a rare brain hemorrhage that not only kept him out of the entire season, but nearly killed him.
The road back was a struggle. Only after a year of extensive rehabilitation was Price finally declared healthy enough to play again.
Weeks later, just prior to the beginning of the fall semester in 2005, Price made what he calls "the biggest mistake of his life."
He and fellow point guard Marcus Williams, now with the Golden State Warriors, stole five laptops from a dormitory and attempted to sell them at a Mansfield pawn shop. Price was arrested, suspended from school and ordered to serve 400 hours of community service. For the second straight season, Price was a spectator, merely a faceless name in a UConn program that was moving on without him.
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