Amazing, isn’t it, what a positive attitude can do for a person?

“Every time I’d talk to Kirk he’d say he was going to play even when everyone else was telling him there was no way,” Kansas University junior Nick Collison said of fellow Iowan Kirk Hinrich, who made a quick  some say miraculous  recovery from a left ankle sprain, scoring 15 points in 21 minutes in Saturday’s 86-63 victory over Stanford at Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

“He took the attitude it wasn’t as bad as people thought it’d be. He’s tough and able to play with some pain, too.”

Hinrich, who wrenched his left ankle late in the first half of Thursday’s win over Holy Cross, was able to play against Stanford without  repeat, without  taking a shot of cortisone.

A Stanford player said he figured Hinrich had been shot up with drugs to be able to play so soon after suffering a severe sprain.

“We did not do injections. There were no shots  absolutely none,” KU trainer Mark Cairns said. “This was about Kirk having a positive attitude, having a smile on his face and doing all he could to come back. He was smiling the moment he found out it was not broken and said, ‘Let’s do what it takes to get back on the court.'”

The key to Hinrich’s quick recovery might have been the speed to which his problem was diagnosed and the immediate treatment.

Team doctor Larry Magee viewed X-rays taken at the St. Louis arena and determined Hinrich had a sprain, not a break. At that point, Magee prescribed an anti-inflammatory medication that he was able to administer right away.

“Getting on it and jumping on it hard from the get-go and getting on the anti-inflammatories I think was important,” Cairns said. “From then on it was just compression, elevation, ice packs and electrical stim (stimulation). Occasionally we would stretch him and do some hands-on things, but the majority of it was treatment.”

Cairns, who was staying in a hotel room right across the hall from Hinrich, knocked on Hinrich’s door at 10 a.m. Friday.

“When he answered the door the morning after the injury and he was walking, I said, ‘Wait a minute here,'” Cairns said. “He was walking without a limp.”

That’s when Cairns and Magee knew there was hope the junior could play against Stanford. Treatments continued Friday night and Saturday morning with a pivotal moment coming at the shootaround at 12:30 p.m. Saturday.

“At shootaround Dr. Magee informed coach medically speaking he didn’t see any reason why he couldn’t play,” Cairns said.

At that point, the decision to play Hinrich or not to play him was in coach Roy Williams’ hands.

“At shootaround I didn’t feel good about what he was doing even though he said he felt 80 percent. I told him I’d wait until warmups,” Williams said. ” I told the team Keith (Langford) would start the game. I didn’t want the uncertainty with Keith being a freshman.

“During warmups Kirk said he felt even better than at 12:30 so I decided I’d give him a chance. At that point I didn’t know if I was going to put him in a couple minutes to see how he was moving and take him out or let him play which is what we did. I said, ‘We’ll go with Keith and you’ll have to show me on the court.'”

Wearing a new-age brace called an Ultra Ankle, Hinrich, who first entered 6:55 into the game, looked healthy on the court. He actually had eight floor burns  a stat compiled by KU sports information  indicating the times Hinrich hit the floor going for the basketball.

“Dr. Magee and I both marveled how well he came back, how quickly he came back,” Cairns said, indicating Hinrich’s quick comeback rivaled that of former Jayhawks Jacque Vaughn and Scot Pollard  who in their careers quickly recovered from ankle sprains  and Mark Randall, who had surgery to correct an anterior compartment problem in his leg and three days later played in a game against DePaul.

“It was really a neat thing when coach Williams said to him, ‘You should just be so proud of yourself of what you did and the courage you displayed,'” Cairns said of the coach’s message to Hinrich.

He did play with some pain.

“I tried to block it out. It was not excruciating,” said Hinrich, who kept alive his streak of playing in all 101 games of his KU career.

Hinrich’s presence boosted the Jayhawks’ spirits. KU, which struggled in its 70-59 first-round win over Holy Cross, raced to a 15-0 lead at the beginning without Hinrich, expanding on the lead during his 21 minutes.

“He was not as quick. He did not have the same explosiveness, but he still found a way to get in the lane and drive,” Collison said.

Added senior Jeff Boschee, “Seeing Kirk out there was a comforting sight, a comforting feeling. He is a competitor.”

Frosh Aaron Miles was not shocked to see Hinrich in the game.

“I knew he’d be back the day he got hurt and we learned it wasn’t broken,” Miles said. “I know how much a competitor he is. Even though he was hurt I thought he’d play, the competitor he is, the emotional leader. He gave us an emotional lift.”

Hinrich will continue to wear the brace at practice and games to solidify the ankle joints.

“I think Kirk will be 100 percent. I hope so. He says it feels a lot better,” Collison said.

“I feel great right now,” Hinrich said, indicating his ankle was 90 to 95 percent healed. “When I was lying on that X-ray table (at halftime Thursday) I wouldn’t have believed I could play. I think what happened was our training staff and Dr. Magee worked with me to get me to the point I could play.”

Future treatments include ice and exercises to strengthen the ankle. Hinrich will not miss one session with the trainer.

“He is as tough a kid as I’ve coached, as disciplined a kid as I’ve coached,” Williams said. “He is one player I have never questioned his ‘want-to’ (desire). With some kids sometimes you do, with Kirk never, and that says a lot.”