Lady Vols without Dupree for rest of season

Rather than risk being a part-time women’s basketball player, Tennessee freshman Faith Dupree will undergo full-time rehabilitation for a sore back.

The Lady Vols announced Monday that Dupree, a 6-foot-3 reserve forward, will miss the season to address a problem that first sidelined her late last month. UT coach Pat Summitt said the course of action was recommended by Jenny Moshak, the Lady Vols associate athletic director for sports medicine, Dr. Greg Mathien, the team orthopaedist and team physician Dr. Becky Morgan.

“She’s in and out of practice,’’ Summitt said of Dupree, who will redshirt and have fours years of eligibility remaining. “Did we want a year of that? No. We want to get her healthy so she can play. So that’s the thinking behind it.”

Dupree, the former Webb School standout, missed a week of preseason practice, along with the first exhibition game. She played in the final exhibition and the first two games, against Baylor and Texas Tech. The back problem resurfaced, however, and Dupree missed more practice time last week as well as Sunday’s game at Virginia.

Moshak said Dupree’s back issues go back to high school and are magnified by insufficient hamstring flexibility and core strength, among other conditions. The rigors of a regular practice schedule were taking a toll.

“We need some time to get her body to where it can absorb these forces,’’ Moshak said.

The plan is to fortify Dupree’s back with a year’s worth of specific conditioning.

“This is going to be a gradual process,’’ Summitt said. “We’re not pushing anything. The main thing is we want her healthy next year to play.”

With Dupree sidelined, No. 6 Tennessee (3-0) will play at Middle Tennessee State (2-1) on Wednesday night with three true post players in Kelley Cain, Alyssia Brewer and Glory Johnson. Summitt said Taber Spani will continue moonlighting at forward. Alicia Manning also can play the position.

Cain’s surgically repaired right knee has held up well through the first three games. Furthermore, Moshak is encouraged by forward Vicki Baugh’s recovery from a second anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction on her left knee, which took place in late February.

In the second surgery, Baugh underwent a patellar tendon graft to repair the ACL. Baugh had been experiencing patellar tendon pain, which Moshak described as “typical” after such a procedure. But the pain has abated.

“It’s gone right now,’’ Moshak said. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come back.”

Rest Of The Story: While Summitt reiterated the players’ performance as being the prime reason for reopening the team locker room, Moshak was a consideration as well.

“She was probably the one who was inconvenienced from time to time, really probably more than anybody else,” Summitt said, “I know more than our coaching staff or our team in that her treatment, she had to move a lot of equipment to work on (the players).

“I’m sure, at times, Jenny was thinking: “I’ll be glad when we all get back in there.”

Notebook: Tennessee guard Shekinna Stricklen is among 50 players on the preseason watch list for the Naismith Trophy. ... Through three games, Johnson is shooting a team-leading 68.2 percent from the floor (15 for 22).

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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