INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Louisville guard Kevin Ware had successful surgery on his broken right leg
Sunday night.Nowhis teammates and coaches are waiting to find out when the sophomorewill return to
campus Tuesday and whether he can travel with them laterthis week to the Final Four in Atlanta.Ware
sustained ahorrifying fracture in the first half of Sunday’s Midwest Regional finalwhen he landed
awkwardly after trying to contest a 3-point shot,breaking his leg in two places. He was taken off the
court on astretcher as his stunned teammates openly wept.A few hours later, his coach showed up at the
hospital with a gift: The regional championship trophy."Hewas groggy, in good spirits. He saw us
win the trophy and was cryingand said it was all worthwhile," coach Rick Pitino told The
AssociatedPress. "We didn’t cut down the net, but I left him the trophy."Pitinosaid he and his
son Richard, who recruited Ware, and an equipmentmanager would spend the night in Indy, along with the
team’s doctors.School officials said doctors reset the bone and inserted a rod during the two-hour
procedure.Warehas played a key role in the Cardinals’ second straight Final Four run,scoring 11 points
on 5-for-7 shooting in 25 minutes in the regionalsemifinal win over Oregon, and on Sunday he was the
primary motivator.Before leaving the court, he called his teammates over to prod them towin the game and
not worry about him, a message he continued to expressat halftime. And he was eager to return to
Atlanta, where he played highschool basketball.For television viewers, it was a gruesomesight that
prompted many to express their sentiments on social mediasites. CBS even stopped showing the replay,
which was not seen insideLucas Oil Stadium.For Louisville players and coaches, it was farworse. Guard
Russ Smith said he didn’t see the play but he heard thebone snap. And forward Chane Behanan, Ware’s
closest friend, said thesight was almost unimaginable.Pitino, one of college basketball’s top winners,
thought he had seen just about everything in the sport until Ware’s injury."Iwent over and I was
going to help him up and then all of a sudden, Isaw what it was and I almost literally threw up,"
Pitino said.Ware’s teammates were overcome with emotion, too.LukeHancock patted Ware on the chest after
Ware rolled himself to thesideline and right in front of the Louisville bench. Behanan and severalother
players sat on the floor as Ware was treated and some, includingBehanan, cried. Duke guard Tyler
Thornton covered his eyes when herealized what had happened, and Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski
eventold Pitino that he would agree to let the teams warm up again if theywanted.They didn’t, though
Pitino did summon Ware’s teammates so he could speak to them. His message was simple: Win the
game."Isaid, ‘We’re going to dig in. We’re going to play this game to the end.We’re going to play
this game to get him back home,’" Pitino said,explaining his halftime speech. "We’ll get him
back home, nurse him togood health and we’re going to get him to Atlanta."Louisvilletrainer Fred
Hina told Pitino it was the same injury that derailed theHeisman Trophy hopes of running back Michael
Bush, who also played atLouisville. Bush recovered from the injury and has had a productive NFLcareer
with Oakland and Chicago.As it turned out, he was watching."I just cried," he wrote on
Twitter. "I feel so bad. Flashback of myself. Anyone if he needs anything please let me
know."The reaction was the same everywhere.Louisvilleforward Wayne Blackshear fell to the floor,
crying, and Behanan lookedas if he was going to be sick on the court, kneeling on his hands andfeet.
Peyton Siva sat a few feet away, a hand covering his mouth.Someone finally pulled Behanan to his feet,
but he doubled over and needed a few seconds to gather himself.Condolencespoured in on social media,
too. Former Washington Redskins quarterbackJoe Theismann, who famously sustained a broken leg on Monday
NightFootball in a game against the New York Giants, tweeted that "WatchingDuke/ Louisville my
heart goes out to Kevin Ware."Two doctors speculated Ware might have had stress fractures that
predisposed him to such a break.Dr.Reed Estes, assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the
Universityof Alabama at Birmingham, and team physician for the UAB football team,said basketball players
are prone to stress fractures in the tibia, thelarger of the two bones in the lower leg, and that can
weaken them."Ifthese are not detected they can result in a full fracture, particularlyif the
landing mechanics are just right" after a jump, Estes said.Surgery to stabilize the bones is
usually successful, and Ware should befine to play next season, he said.Dr. Frederick Azar, head ofthe
Campbell Clinic in Memphis, Tenn., and a spokesman for the AmericanAcademy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, said
Ware "jumped pretty farhorizontally and vertically, and he landed with a twist," which puts
somuch torsion and stress on the bones they could have just snapped. Heagreed with Estes’ assessment
that a stress fracture could have madeWare more prone to such an injury.Louisville, the top overallseed
in the tourney, missed four of its next five shots but regained itscomposure to take a 35-32 halftime
lead and went on to an 85-63victory."We won this for him," Pitino said. "We were all
chokedup with emotion for him. We’ll get him back to normal. We’ve got greatdoctors, great trainers. We
talked about it every timeout, ‘Get Kevinhome.’"Behanan switched into Ware’s No. 5 jersey near the
end of the game.Afterward, he kept it on and the Cardinal players led the heavily partisan Louisville
crowd in chants of "Kev-in, Kev-in.""Wehad to do this for Kevin, that’s our whole
thing," Siva said. "Coachtold us that we needed to get him back home, and I think it would
havebeen a tougher loss for us if we would have gone out there and lost."___AP Chief Medical Writer
Marilynn Marchione contributed to this report.Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.