Mills to have surgery

San Franciso Chronicle
UPDATED Feb 4, 2009 - St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett said that point guard Patty Mills will have surgery to repair a broken right hand today and remains on track to return either for the final weekend of the regular season (Feb. 26-28) or for the WCC tournament that begins March 6. ... Mills broke his hand during Thursday's loss to Gonzaga in Spokane. ... St. Mary's (18-3, 5-2) lost its next game, 84-66 at Portland. ... The NCAA Tournament selection committee might want to see St. Mary's play at least one game with Mills when he returns before voting on the Gaels' selection.


Original report
by Tim Coakley (AussieHoopsAmerica.com contributor)

I recently spoke to Saint Mary's Assistant Coach David Patrick and he had some interesting news about the state of the Gaels and injured star Patty Mills.

Despite a devastating injury, two fractured metacarpal bones in his right hand, David Patrick says Mills is in higher spirits than nearly anyone else on the team. An official decision will be made tomorrow morning (early morning hours of Wednesday in Australia) whether or not Mills decides to have surgery, which will entail having a pin placed in his hand. If he opts for the surgery, and according to FOXSports.com, Head Coach Randy Bennett says this is the most likely scenario, the healing period should be about four weeks. This would coincide with a targeted return on Thursday February 26th (27th in Oz) when St. Mary's hosts Pepperdine. The Gaels would then host Loyola Marymount on February 28th before preparing for the West Coast Conference tournament which begins on March 6th in Las Vegas. FOXSPORTS.com goes on to report that Mills consulted with two doctors in the San Francisco area over the weekend, and that he will have a pin inserted into his shooting hand on Tuesday morning (Wednesday in Australia). Only one of the fractured metacarpal bones (the one that suffered a clean break) would require the pin while the other would be allowed to heal normally.

If he had opted to have the hand heal naturally the healing would take about 6 to 7 weeks with a good chance that Mills would miss the West Coast Conference tournament.

David Patrick said that if Mills has the surgery, he will likely begin rehab the following day and by Sunday or Monday he would begin handling the ball. He would probably be able to start shooting again in about two weeks time, and physical contact would be last on the timeline to recovery.

Mills has seen a total of four doctors, including Gonzaga's doctor, since breaking his hand and has carefully weighed his options keeping in mind both St. Mary's and the bigger picture, that is his health and future plans.

Patty's contribution on the floor goes beyond his 18.7 points, 3.9 assists and 2.4 steals. David Patrick pointed out that as a team the Gaels average just under 8 steals per game, and while Mills came into the Gonzaga game averaging 2.5 steals, St. Mary's as a team only had 1 steal in their loss to Portland. It's the intangibles that Mills brings such as tenacity and intensity that allow the entire team to thrive and the absence of that presence has affected the entire squad.

While it may be a tall task to catch Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference standings, David Patrick still sees the Gaels finishing 2nd or 3rd in the conference. If Mills comes back healthy, St. Mary's can still do damage in the conference tournament but as long as Mills comes back there's a good chance the NCAA will judge St. Mary's on how they performed with Mills in the line-up. A return trip to the NCAA Tournament is likely based upon the performance they've already put forward prior to Patty's injury. Just the presence of Mills on the floor instills confidence in his teammates and while the Gaels as a team have plenty of talent, Mills is the catalyst that makes St. Mary's click.

Notes: St. Mary's learned tonight that they will host #22/#25 Utah State (21-1, 9-0 WAC) in their "ESPNU BracketBusters Game" on February 21st, a game that Mills will not likely be ready for. Utah State is the team of Dom Cooks (Wollongong) however Cooks is redshirting this season after spraining his ankle in practice prior to the start of the regular season.

The seventh annual ESPNU BracketBusters event, a two-day men’s college basketball extravaganza pitting potential NCAA Tournament hopefuls against each other on Feb. 20-21, will feature 13 nationally televised games—on either ESPN2, ESPNU, or ESPN360.com—selected from a pool of 102 teams.