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A blog on UConn women's basketball.

Monday, February 03, 2014

UConn signee Williams to have surgery Thursday

Following up on the reports of UConn signee Gabby Williams planning to come to Connecticut to have the surgery done to repair her torn ACL, I reached out to her father Matt to see what the plan was.

Although Gabby and her mom are scheduled to fly from Nevada to Connecticut tomorrow, Matt Williams said he didn't think they'd arrive in time for tomorrow's game against SMU but they would be staying in Connecticut for 10 days so they would be in attendance at Sunday's game against No. 4 Louisville.

Matt Williams said the UConn doctors and medical staff's experience doing ACL surgeries was the reason why the family opted to have the surgery done her.

"They've worked on Shea's, they've worked on some other ones," Matt Williams said. "There's nothing wrong with the Reno doctors but I think Gabby finally realized that she belongs to UConn and not Nevada. I wish she would have realized that before the season (he encouraged Gabby not to play as a high school senior since she was coming off an ACL tear as a junior) but what I do know? It is up to her. Her mom and her are going to head up there, I'll stay here and take care of the other kids.

"It should be a good experience. They have all the paperwork that they need to do it so we are excited that the UConn doctor and trainer all all going to be on the same page."

When Williams tore her ACL as a junior, she kind of figured it was an ACL tear but when she hurt her knee again last month, she was able to return to the court a couple days later and did not think it was a torn ACL this time.

"Gabby, she has been through this before," Williams said. "I think the news was a little disheartening because she didn't think she tore it, she was able to go and play. For me it is frustrating because I don't think it should have happened. I don't think she should have been playing. We had communication issues with her high school coach. She should never have been playing but it is also Gabby's choice at the end of the day. It is up to Gabrielle, she made the choice to play and she is going to have to go through it. We are going to be there to support her as a family and move onto the next level. She has a very good support group and the UConn coaches have been unbelievable, they have been awesome."

Getting the surgery done now gives Williams plenty of time to recover and be ready for the start of her freshman season at UConn. However, he father would prefer that her debut with the Huskies would be put on hold for another year.

"I hope that they redshirt her, why rush it?" Matt Williams said. "That is totally up to the coaches, they are the experts and they will know the recovery, they will be with her hand in hand. If she can play, she can play but I am sure they are not going to put her in jeopardy. If she is ready to play, she will play but if she is not  it will best for her to sit out."

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