Anaheim, Calif. ? Big Wayne Simien had one request after waking up after right shoulder surgery Friday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.

“When Wayne did wake up, he said, ‘I want some pizza. I’m hungry. Let’s eat,”’ Kansas basketball trainer Mark Cairns said of the 6-foot-9, 255-pound sophomore forward, who had what was deemed a successful three-hour surgery performed by New York Giants team doctor Russell Warren.

Leavenworth native Simien was hungry and happy after undergoing the procedure designed to repair a ligament tear in the shoulder he dislocated Jan. 4 against Missouri-Kansas City.

“Everything went well. We think he’ll be fine. He will have very little problems with the shoulder in the future,” said Cairns, explaining that Simien would be in a sling four to five weeks, then “we’ll take a good look at it and start to be aggressive with it at that time.”

Cairns said Simien should be able to resume practicing hard in four months.

“We’re not going to rush anything,” KU coach Roy Williams said. “If he can shoot some hoops in the summer and play some H-O-R-S-E in August, I think he’ll be ready when we start in October.”

Warren found no damage in the cartilage, Williams said. But a massive tear was found in the ligaments.

Warren did not return calls from The News Center.

“Dr. Warren was real intrigued by Wayne. It was a rather large tear,” Cairns said. “In fact, Dr. Warren asked all his residents to come in his surgical suite so they could see it. He said, ‘You’ll never see one like this again in your career.’ It was a big tear in the bottom, your right armpit area.

“The tear was so big … he’d not seen one that large.”

Cairns said it was hoped Simien would lose just “five degrees of external rotation” in his right shoulder.

“Dr. Warren has had people that have full range-of-motion, individuals in the NBA right now that have no problem with their shoulder range-of-motion that had almost the identical surgery Wayne had,” Cairns said. “He feels confident Wayne will come back full speed.”

As far as the timetable, four months will be the plan.

“Dr. Warren has had an NFL person come back in three months, but he doesn’t recommend that,” Cairns said. “The only reason he came back in three was, if he didn’t come back he wasn’t going to have a job.”

Simien will not be able to fly to California to sit on the bench for tonight’s KU-Arizona Elite Eight contest at Arrowhead Pond. He’ll be able to accompany KU to the Final Four if the Jayhawks win today, however. He’ll return to Lawrence Sunday.

“All the tissue came together well. It went very well,” Cairns said.

Simien’s teammates were happy to hear the news.

“I talked to him two days ago,” sophomore guard Michael Lee said. “I said, ‘Stay strong, we are all pulling for you.’ He said he was pulling for us.”

“He’s my roommate back home,” sophomore Keith Langford said. “I talked to him last night before today’s surgery. I said my prayers, all our prayers are with him.”

¢

Hinrich OK: KU senior Kirk Hinrich, who bruised his right palm and thumb after using his hand to brace his fall in the first half of Thursday’s game against Duke, does not have any broken bones.

“It’s just a bruise. We’re icing it and wrapping it to keep it strong,” Hinrich said.

“His hand looks very good, better than expected,” Cairns noted. “Dr. (Larry) Magee looked at it, and Kirk has had very little problems with it. It is a bruise on the palm and thumb.”

¢

Langford’s ankle sore: Langford, who sprained his right ankle Thursday, said he would be fine today.

“It’s sore and swollen, but I’ve gotten ice treatment. By game time tomorrow, it’ll be fine,” Langford said.

Langford revealed Friday he was recruited by Arizona out of North Crowley High in Fort Worth, Texas.

“To tell you the truth, I was hell-bent on trying to go there,” Langford said. “It didn’t work out. I wasn’t bitter. They were honest with me from the start, telling me I was third or fourth on the list. I respect them for that.”

¢

Tourney loss revisited: Williams remembers KU’s crushing 85-82 loss to Arizona in the Sweet 16 in March of 1997 in Birmingham, Ala. That loss ended a dream 34-2 season.

“To me it made me realize what’s going on in the world,” Williams said. “That loss really hurt. I am one of those guys who tries to do the right thing, think that the right thing should always happen.

“I thought it was right for that team to go to the Final Four. We had two first-team Academic All-Americans (Jacque Vaughn, Jerod Haase), won 34 and lost two. We didn’t go to the Final Four.

“To that point, my No. 1 dream was to win the national championship. It made me realize that was stupid. Now my No. 1 dream is to coach my grandchildren. It gave me a better outlook on life. At the same time, it made me realize you don’t have many opportunities. I thought we were the best team that year.”

¢

Hustle play: One of the unsung heroes Thursday against Duke was Jeff Graves, who raced out of bounds, grabbed the basketball and knocked it off Casey Sanders’ leg, helping KU keep possession. Then, Nick Collison scored inside at 5:41 to give KU a 63-57 lead in the Jayhawks’ 69-65 victory.

“I think it’s part of Kansas basketball, hustling after loose balls,” Graves said. “That loose ball … my eyes were big. I thought I’d fall on people and hurt some people.”

“Their eyes were big, too,” Williams said of court-side photographers who could have been run over by the big guy.

¢

Rematch: Today is KU vs. Arizona Part II. The Wildcats beat KU, 91-74, Jan. 25 at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I see it as the next step in our ultimate goal to win a national championship,” Lee said. “The fact it is against an Arizona team we lost to, it’s well anticipated. We’ll be ready.”