After hip surgery, Kansas’ Brannen Greene working to return to the court

There is something tedious, grueling and mentally taxing about rehabbing from a major injury, but for Brannen Greene, the worst part came when he would try to put on his socks.

It was late April, just weeks after Greene, a 6-foot-7 wing entering his junior year, had undergone surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip. Greene was on crutches, hobbling on campus and scoring rides from his girlfriend and teammates. It was difficult, he says, to complete even basic tasks like getting in the shower or changing clothes.

But perhaps the most annoying thing — the most vexing part of a rehab process that will stretch throughout the summer — came when Greene just wanted to change a dirty pair of socks. He could reach downward, but not far enough. His hip, he says, was unable to externally rotate. There was little he could do.

Finally, he says, salvation came at the five-week mark, when he could start rotating his hip again.

“That was big for me,” he said. “So I could start putting on my socks.”

Three weeks later, on Monday afternoon, Greene marked another rehab milestone, sauntering into Allen Fieldhouse without the help of crutches. As Greene walked past the KU locker room, he saw Alissa Bauer, a KU media relations assistant.

“No crutches!” Bauer said. “Walking around like a champ.”

Greene, who will miss KU’s appearance in the World University Games in July, still has three more months of rehab to complete. But for now, Greene is confident that he’ll be healthy and ready to go when the Jayhawks open practice this fall.

“I have three more months of progress (to make),” Greene said. “But I can start jogging in the pool, things like that. (I can) get back to running, walking. I should be ready by the time practice starts, so that’s a good thing. And when I mean ready, I mean full speed.”

Monday also marked the first time that Greene had spoken publicly since his surgery. He confirmed that his hip injury happened during a weights session in late January or early February.

“It was just stretching; I’m kind of a stiff,” Greene said, smiling. “But (I was) stretching, and that’s just what happened. I was trying to extend with my hips, and when I went to extend, I just felt it.”

In this instance, “it” was a pop. Greene said he wasn’t sure what had happened and he continued to play through pain for the rest of the season. He told trainers and coaches that his hip felt tight, but the severity of the injury was not detected. On some nights, Greene says, the pain was so great, he would go back to his on-campus apartment, collapse in a chair and be unable to stand up without contorting his body in a certain way.

“I’d try to get up and my hip would be locked up and I’d have to walk around bent over,” Greene said.

Still, Greene wanted to play. The injury coincided with a late-season shooting slump from three-point range. After starting the Big 12 season with a blazing stretch from deep, Greene went cold in mid-February, hitting just six of 34 from three-point range over his last 12 games. At the time, Greene told reporters that he had some stiffness in his lower half — something that is not uncommon for him — and a lack of rhythm in his shot.

“It felt like it was a little off,” Greene said Monday. “Now I know what it was from. I couldn’t get that lift off of it.”

Greene, who shot 40.4 percent from three for the year, finished the season averaging 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds in 15 minutes per game.

“It’s all about rhythm, honestly,” Greene said. “That’s what it comes down to. I have no excuses for how I shot, though. I still could make shots. So that has nothing to do with it.”

When Greene returns to the floor in the fall, he will rejoin a veteran backcourt that returns junior guards Wayne Selden and Frank Mason and sophomores Devonte’ Graham and Svi Mykhailiuk. The Jayhawks also signed incoming freshman Lagerald Vick, who will add depth on the wing.

Greene, meanwhile, is suddenly one of the those veterans, a fact that hit him hard in recent weeks. During his first two years on campus, Greene’s career has mostly been defined by torrid stretches of outside shooting and a hot-and-cold relationship with head coach Bill Self. Now Greene is a junior, one of the oldest players on the roster, and hoping to take the next step. It starts, of course, with getting back on the court.

“It hit me fast, honestly,” Greene said of his veteran status. “I feels like I was just a freshman; it hit me fast. It’s kind of shocking. But it’s time now. We have no excuses. We can’t look at being young or anything like that.

In a span of seconds, Greene began to rattle off names, mentioning Perry Ellis, Jamari Traylor, Selden and Mason.

“We have a ton of veterans,” he said again. “And there are no excuses.”

This story was originally published June 8, 2015 at 6:32 PM with the headline "After hip surgery, Kansas’ Brannen Greene working to return to the court."