Illinois Basketball: Da'Monte Williams Out For the Season With Torn ACL
The Illinois basketball team has arguably the best class in the history of the program coming in for 2017.
This class is hopefully going to parlay a postseason run this season into an even deeper run next year. That is the mindset of many Illini fans.
But, to accomplish that goal we need to have these four talented players who are coming in to be healthy.
Da’Monte Williams hasn’t been able to get health in the last year or so and it is sad because there is nothing he can do about it.
I had roughly the same feeling with Ken Griffey Jr. when he kept going down with injury after injury. He would have been the greatest baseball player in the history of the game.
Williams isn’t new to injuries, though. He missed some summer basketball this year with a sprained foot as well.
After missing some time he ended up being dropped off the recruiting top 100 list by some sites, but that didn’t stop Williams.
In May, Williams came back strong as ever and even hit a game-winning buzzer beater for the Mac Irvin Fire. This was a great way to tell the world that he is back and better than ever.
Time went on and Williams entered his high school season with Manual High School and was actually doing pretty well this season.
But, on December 2, Williams went down with another injury. This injury was some sad news to anyone who wants to see this kid succeed in life.
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No one really knew the severity of the injury, though. That was until last night when Williams went to the doctor to get things checked out.
According to Aaron Ferguson of the Peoria Journal Star, Williams will be out of the rest of the Manual season with a torn ACL.
From a basketball standpoint, this is news that Illinois fans didn’t want to hear. We have dealt with injuries the last few seasons and now our recruits are getting injured as well.
But, more importantly, from a human perspective, this is devastating news for this young talented guard.
No matter where Williams would have committed, all of Illini Nation would have been behind him in his recovery. This is a type of injury that he needs to take his time and make sure it fully heals.
A torn ACL is not a joke and even if he has to miss his freshman campaign or most of it, it will be worth it for him to get healthy so he can continue his basketball career.
I wish Williams nothing but the best in his recovery. It will be a long road ahead, but we are all behind him in every step of the process.
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