Best seat in the house

Rush must settle for watching campers

KANSAS UNIVERSITY GUARD BRANDON RUSH watches his teammates and the participants at the Bill Sel Elite basketball camp at the Horejsi Center. Rush looked on Friday while he continues his recovery from surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

Sprawled out across two chairs – one for his body and one for his bad wheel – Kansas University’s Brandon Rush was only a spectator at Bill Self’s Elite basketball camp Friday.

He tinkered with his cell phone off and on. He chatted with prep standout DeAndre Liggins, who made the trip from Chicago despite an injured foot that left him in a wheelchair.

And he watched as his teammates and campers did drills and had fun with the basketball during the downtime at the Horejsi Center.

“It’s kind of tough to just watch, and you can’t play for a while,” Rush said. “But I’ve got to keep my head up and have a good attitude about it.”

Rush spoke Friday for the first time since tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last month. The injury caused him to withdraw his name from the NBA Draft, come back to Kansas and have surgery and extensive rehabilitation. He’s expected to be out four to six months, a timetable which may cut into the start of his junior season.

For now, his knee is bandaged up, and a bulky brace goes from his ankle to his thigh. He’ll have crutches for a few more days, too, though he’s tried to get around without them a little bit.

KANSAS UNIVERSITY GUARD BRANDON RUSH watches his teammates and the participants at the Bill Sel Elite basketball camp at the Horejsi Center. Rush looked on Friday while he continues his recovery from surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

Truth be told, the knee makes him move like a creaky old man – not the elite athlete he usually is.

“I know he wishes he was out there, but he seems to be doing good,” KU coach Bill Self said. “His attitude is good, he’s been very, very, very responsible and hard working with his rehab, to the point where even the trainers are very pleased and pleasantly surprised with how much effort he’s putting in. There’s no poor-pitiful-me attitude at all.”

Rush reflects that when he talks, calling the injury just a minor bump and saying of his derailed NBA plans, “it wasn’t my time.”

But it was for quite a while, which makes the sudden change of plans a little strange at best. Even when the injury happened, Rush didn’t imagine his professional plans were going to be put on hold.

“I thought it was like a sprained knee, or hyperextended, or something like that,” Rush said. “It didn’t hurt at all.

“I was going up for a layup, and I dunked it. When I came down, I kind of plant-and-turned, and when I turned it popped.”

All indications are Rush is proactive in getting healthy again. While he was watching the camp Friday, a trainer stopped by, removed his brace and bandage and put a complicated contraption around his knee that plugs into the wall and ices the affected area. He even said he has a similar machine at home and uses it about every other hour as instructed.

Kansas University's Tyrel Reed dribbles toward the basket at Bill Self's Elite basketball camp. Reed participated in Friday's workouts in the Horejsi Center.

Rush said he’d be able to start running again in three months. From there, it all depends on his own work ethic and how his injured knee reacts.

Seeing his teammates out on the court working with campers Friday makes him hungry to return. But he insists his mind will tell him when, not his heart.

“Whenever it feels 100 percent,” Rush said. “I know the coaches aren’t going to try and push me out on the court. If it’s November, December or January : I have to be able to move, able to make cuts, able to jump.”

¢One more day: Campers retired to their Naismith Hall dorm rooms after the first night of the elite camp wrapped up.

Helping Self was his coaching staff and all the players except three – Russell Robinson, Sasha Kaun and Jeremy Case, all of whom are working a different camp this weekend.

Also helping out were former Jayhawks Aaron Miles and Michael Lee.