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Louisville's Kevin Ware Is OK and His Surgery Went Fine

You didn't have to watch the Cardinals's reserve guard suffer one of the most gruesome leg injuries in college sports history Sunday, but surely you heard about the emotional news — now there's some good news.

By Alexander Abad-Santos
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Whether or not you tuned in to Lousville's dismantling of Duke in last night's final Elite Eight game of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, you heard about Kevin Ware. You didn't have to watch the Cardinals's reserve guard suffer one of the most gruesome leg injuries in college sports history, but it was big, emotional news — now there's some good news: Doctors say the 20-year-old's broken leg is relatively easy to fix, and his surgery Sunday night was successful after a scary scene late in the first half of Louisville's victory, in which he appeared to suffer a compound fracture of his lower right leg after jumping to block a three-pointer and landing gruesomely out of bounds.

"School officials said the leg, broken in two places, was reset and a rod inserted into his right tibia," reports the AP, "Ware is expected to stay in Indianapolis until at least Tuesday." While Louisville Coach Rick Pitino told reporters after his team's 85-63 victory (they will play Wichita State in the Final Four Saturday) that Ware's recovery will take about a year. CNN and Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis both reported this morning that Ware's leg injury, despite the wincing scene, actually has a fairly straightforward path in surgical repair and surgical rehab than, say, a massive ACL tear:

Because this is 2013, we also have proof that Ware is doing better thanks to social media. Peyton Siva, Louisville's starting point guard, Instagrammed this picture of Ware and the regional trophy around midnight this morning:

And Ware's Instagram account posted this last night:

They say God's greatest challenges goes to his hardest soldiers. This is a minor set back for a comeback that I can't wait for me. I'm thanking all my fans, family, friends, and teammates for being behind me 100%.

Early Twitter reports that Ware, who moved from the Bronx to Atlanta and signed with Louisville despite a broken hand and fought for important minutes on the Cardinals in their championship run, would be facing surgery costs of up to $670,000 might prove inaccurate — and maybe a fundraising scam. There was an ensuing uproar over the NCAA not insuring its student-athletes, but there was also an outpouring of emotion and, you know, everyone wants to take care of this guy. That doesn't mean athletes like Ware can't lose their scholarships over something like this, though.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.