Caroline Doty has had her bad days as she rehabilitates her surgically repaired left knee. Her close friend Tiffany Hayes can attest to that. But unlike when she was recovering from a torn ACL in the same left knee at home last year, there is a definitive difference as she currently attacks her rehab with same vigor and determination. She feels like she a true ally in Huskies’ trainer Rosemary Ragle.
Ragle was by her side today as she met with the assembled media at Gampel Pavilion. Doty began sprinting a couple of weeks ago. She expects to begin cutting in about another two weeks and Ragle said Doty could be cleared to play in mid-to-late August or early September, which would put her at the seven-month mark in her rehabilitation.
“Mentally (it’s better this time around) just because before I didn’t have Rosie,’’ Doty said. “I didn’t have somebody who was always there working with me. I had great trainers back at home, but it was more like a community thing where they had other patients too and they couldn’t really work on it. It was more like I was on my own. For here, I have great guidance and I have people watching to make sure I land a certain way every rep I do whereas last year I was kind of like on my own. And being more disciplined now. I learned from last year what I have to do and what I have to look forward to for this coming year. I just want to be 100 percent and I know with Rosie she’ll get me there.’’
Doty said she feels great right now. Other than rehabbing her knee, she is currently taking a biology class/lab during the current session of summer classes. Once the session ends July 10 she then will remain on campus to workout and finish up some rehab before heading home to vacation with her family and see some friends. And, most important, just be a kid.
Doty has seen plenty of pickup games in recent weeks. She said every player has improved from last season, but the performance of junior point guard Lorin Dixon and that of the post players has been impressive.
“Lorin with her shot, big-time,’’ she said. “I’ve seen Lorin in the gym shooting, putting up 3s, doing a bunch of stuff. Tina (Charles) and her explosiveness. Tiffany’s doing USA (Basketball). I heard she’s doing great things out there. I’m really happy for her. But the big thing for us is the number of post players. We still have Kaili (McLaren) and Tina. We have (Heather) Buck coming in. Unfortunately, we lost Jess (McCormack). So to have them and seeing how excited they are for next season, seeing them working out, seeing Kaili working out in the training room and doing extra bike work or doing post moves with Tina. And Buck’s always doing everything, especially because she’s doing a couple classes this summer too. It’s great to see that everybody’s so excited for this next season coming up and seeing all the work that’s going (on). We’re all excited.’’
The Huskies were asked by coach Geno Auriemma to take two to three weeks off following the end of what was a magical season. They abided by his decree, but it wasn’t easy.
“He said, `I don’t want any of you guys being in the gym together. I don’t want you guys doing anything for two to three weeks,’’’ Doty said. “We took that respectfully, but you know us. We couldn’t get out of here. We were getting bored so we’d throw a couple shots up. Nothing serious. It’s more of just kind of keeping it in our system. Then we had to go home for summer break and we still do our lifting and some form of conditioning to stay in shape because as a D-I athlete you really can’t take any time off because it takes a couple weeks to get out of shape and to get back in shape it takes another couple weeks. A lot of us can’t really afford that. A lot of us know that too, and plus loving basketball you always want to play. So we’re always just around shooting and doing our thing.’’
Rich
