Kevin Ware Recovers from Surgery as Louisville Marches On

[The Washington Post]

Chane Behanan celebrates Louisville’s win — wearing Kevin Ware’s jersey. (Andy Lyons / Getty Images)

When Louisville sophomore guard Kevin Ware awoke from surgery to repair the gruesome open fracture he suffered Sunday, he was greeted by the sight of a trophy, a shiny sign that his teammates had carried out his order to win the NCAA tournament’s Midwest Region final and advance to the Final Four.

Ware underwent two hours of surgery in which his right tibia was reset, a rod was inserted in his leg and the open wound caused by the break was closed, Louisville announced. Ware is expected to remain in an Indianapolis hospital until Tuesday, while doctors monitor him for signs of infection and to make sure that blood flow has been restored in his leg. Upon his release, he hopes to travel with his teammates to Atlanta, his hometown, for Saturday’s Final Four game against Wichita State.

Louisville advanced with a masterful 85-63 victory over Duke, but the talk the day after the game was still about Ware’s injury (see it here, but be warned that it’s quite graphic) and how such an awful moment became a rallying point for the Cardinals, who were stunned when his Ware’s leg snapped — an unusual basketball injury — with 6 minutes, 33 seconds left in the first half.