Kansas freshman forward Cliff Alexander, generally considered the third best basketball player in the Class of 2014, suffered a severe right ankle sprain during a workout in Lawrence about a week ago and is wearing a walking boot. Jayhawks coach Bill Self told the Lawrence Journal-World Tuesday night via text message that Alexander will have his foot immobilized for a “few weeks.”
Self said surgery will not be necessary.
Even minor injuries are big news in basketball-crazy Kansas, but this story was unusual because of the way it broke on social media Tuesday night.
Kansas guard Frank Mason posted on his Instagram page a picture taken at Self’s house, where the basketball team was attending a poolside dinner. Alexander could be seen wearing his walking boot. The picture was retweed on Twitter by Andrew Baker of Channel 6 Sports in Lawrence and by Rock Chalk Blog. When Alexander saw the tweet from Rock Chalk Blog, he retweeted that and then tweeted out on his account, “I’m good everybody.”
The Instagram photo on Mason’s page was quickly deleted.
Perhaps the greatest irony of all was that this all happened on a day when Holly Rowe of ESPN was on the campus in Lawrence “doing media and social media training with KU student-athletes.” Chris Theisen of KU athletics media relations had tweeted that during the day Tuesday.
Rowe responded Tuesday night “@RockChalkBlog I didn’t meet with mens hoops today but certainly something to consider when I do.”
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