Pipikis Out For Year!!!!!!!!!

[professor]

Article on the UA athletic site. Tore his ACL and MCL. Will have surgery in two weeks.

 

Good luck Janis!! You were making great strides!

[Dane Pound]

Unbelievable. What next?

 

BASKETBALL'S JANIS PIPIKIS WILL MISS THE REMAINDER OF THE 2003-04 SEASON

     Albany, N.Y. – University at Albany basketball center Janis Pipikis will miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury. MRI results showed on Wednesday, Dec. 31 that Pipikis has torn both his anterior cruciate ligament and a medial collateral ligament in the right knee. He will have surgery within the next two weeks to correct the damage.

     Pipikis, a 6-foot-8 senior from Ventspils, Latvia, suffered the injury in a morning practice on Dec. 27. He was averaging 5.6 points and 3.1 rebounds through the opening seven games. However, Pipikis had stepped up his performance during a recent four-game stretch, when he contributed nearly 10 points and five rebounds per contest. He scored a career-high 18 points against Sacred Heart on Dec. 20, and had 11 points in his team’s 68-62 victory over Army earlier this month.

     "I feel badly for Janis," said Albany coach Will Brown, whose top player Jamar Wilson had season-ending surgery on Monday to repair a fractured patella. "He was making great progress and had bought in to what we were trying to accomplish as a team. It's unfortunate because he was becoming a solid player at the America East level."

     Albany (2-7) will begin America East Conference play this weekend. The Great Danes host UMBC on Friday, Jan. 2 at 7:00 p.m. and Boston University, a 61-60 winner over Michigan in its last outing, on Sunday, Jan. 4 at 1:00 p.m.

[AlbanyObserver]

This is freaking amazing!!!! Somebody please make this bad dream end!!!! Who is our top prospect from AAA that we can call up to the big leagues???? Oh, that's right, we don't have a minor league farm system!!!!

 

No one has any expectations for this team right now ...... so let's go "Hoosiers" everyone's a#### in the AE!!!!! Happy New Year!!!!!!

[AlbanyObserver]

As Spike Lee once said in a Nike commercial, "It's got to be the shoes." Is it out of line for me to make the statement I have made time and time again, "It's got to be the floor?"

 

Is it ironic we are seeing another trend of injuries this season, like all other seasons, or are our Great Dane players just clumsy and bring on these injuries themselves????? Just some food for thought and things that make you want to go hmmmmmmmm.........

 

Can we tear up that aweful surface and have a big bonfire this summer???????

[Patch]

More terrible news!!!!

 

Pipikis deserves better he persevered hard times and earned legitimate time and was producing only to have his career cut short. Hopefully the surgery goes well and he heals well and as quickly as possible.

 

Now let's keep a suicide watch out for Coach Brown and his staff - who I feel have been doing a creditable job considering the hand they were dealt.

 

With only 8 players in uniform we must all hold our breath. Because believe it or not things can get worse.

[alumni '92']

unreal ... what else can happen this season? ... janis had been making his most significant contributions as a dane ... wow ...

[statefan]

Albany Observer - I don't think raising the question of the floor is out of line at all. I know the teams often practice in the old gym and since both Jamar's and Janis' injuries were at practice, can anyone tell me where the team was practicing when these injuries occurred?

[Patch]

The reason why the Men practice in the old gym is because the players constantly complain about their legs when playing in the RACC

[UAalum72]

Since he was hurt before Dec. 28, can Pipikis redshirt? You wouldn't think we'd need him, but if we have injuries like this again next year ...

[Oldtimer]

Sad development for a Senior who was becoming a very good low post player to allow our perimeter people some room. Hope his surgery is succesful and all damage is correctable. Obviously he and the coaching staff have worked hard to get him to be a popular player because of his work ethic and improvement. We still have 10 for practice but 8 for the games does not bode well. Can any of those 250-300 lb. football players play hoops??

[Dane Pound]

I agree with your thinking UAlum. Especially since it doesn't look like Hughes will be here this year or next. I'm not sure though that Pipikis would heal in time for next season. I think the recovery time for MCL and ACL is a year+ depending on the damage.

[professor]

This was his last year anyway!

[UAalum72]

we must all hold our breath. Because believe it or not things can get worse.

Yes it can! In today's Times-Union http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story...wsdate=1/1/2004 Q turned an ankle vs. Wagner, didn't practice Wed., and may not play vs. UMBC.

 

Also, Pipikis may apply for a waiver to redshirt, even though he's played more than twenty percent of the games this year.

[Patch]

Damn with Pipikis out for the season and if "Q" doesn't play against UMBC we may only have 7 guys in uniform.

 

That's scary!!!!

 

Let's see what Martin and Knotts can bring to the table now!!!!!

[Dane Pound]

Really have to feel bad for Pipikis as this is a terrible way for someone to end his career especially when he started to play well. I thought though that he was academically a junior this year. He came in with Wyatt didn't he? I thought he was classified as a soph because of overseas playing or something. So academically he should be back next year unless he's graduating early which is quite possible because he is a pretty good student.