KU’s Brannen Greene to undergo hip surgery, will miss World University Games

Kansas sophomore Brannen Greene will undergo hip surgery this week and be sidelined for at least five months, Bill Self confirmed to The Star on Tuesday.

Greene, a 6-foot-7 wing, will have a procedure to repair a torn labrum and will not play in July’s World University Games, where Kansas will represent the United States in Gwangju, South Korea. Based on the recovery timeline, Greene could be slated to return to a basketball court in September, just weeks before the Jayhawks would begin practice for the 2015-16 season.

The news was first reported by the Lawrence Journal-World.

Greene averaged 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds while playing 15 minutes per game as a sophomore. He shot 42.2 percent from three-point range despite a prolonged slump over the season’s final weeks.

The Jayhawks will also be without freshman wing Svi Mykhailiuk during the World University Games. Mykhailiuk, a native of Cherkasy, Ukraine, is not allowed to compete for the United States in the international event. Incoming freshmen will be eligible to play, as long as they are enrolled in summer classes.

The 12-man roster won’t be finalized until Kansas is finished recruiting, Self said. There has been talk of former KU players making the team but two problems: They can’t be working under an NBA contract and they have to be under 25 years old.

That eliminated such candidates as Travis Releford and Elijah Johnson, Self said.

Self might have to look at other rosters to fill the team.

“The numbers could be such that we may need to get a guy or two,” Self said.

Recruiting notes

▪ Charlotte graduate transfer Michael Thorne Jr., who will visit Kansas later this month, has also scheduled a visit with Kentucky on April 24, according to Rivals.com.

▪ Kansas target Malik Newman, a 6-foot-3 guard, probably won’t take any official visits before selecting a school, his father, Harold Webster, told The Clarion-Ledger newspaper. Newman, a native of Jackson, Miss., is reportedly still considering Kansas, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State and N.C. State.

This story was originally published April 14, 2015 at 1:06 PM with the headline "KU’s Brannen Greene to undergo hip surgery, will miss World University Games."