Marquette is still standing in March Madness after not letting injuries derail season

DALLAS – Kenny Wilka's first official game as the senior athletic trainer for the Marquette's men's basketball team came Jan. 6 against Seton Hall in Newark, New Jersey.

In the first half, MU sophomore guard Chase Ross crumpled to the court in pain with a dislocated shoulder. Wilka jumped into action, and it seems like he's been dealing with one injury after another since then.

Sophomore guard Sean Jones suffered a torn right ACL. Ross returned from his shoulder injury, but has been plagued by a left leg issue. Stevie Mitchell, who missed four games after hurting his hamstring before Wilka was on the job, is dealing with a balky left shoulder and right wrist. And, of course, there was the most famous oblique in college basketball when Tyler Kolek missed six games before the NCAA Tournament.

Under the direction of MU head coach Shaka Smart, the Golden Eagles dealt with every nagging injury in a logical manner and MU was still standing for the Sweet 16. The second-seeded Golden Eagles play 11th-seeded North Carolina State on Friday night at American Airlines Center.

"We're a big-time basketball program," Wilka said Thursday. "So, yeah, the level of ... I guess stress would be the easiest word to say, is definitely there.

"I've dealt with basketball teams. I've done Division II (at UW-Parkside) for 10 years. And we had injuries, but at the same time, there was no Twitter ... there was no awareness. So it was basically just shutting off everything and focusing on the guys. And figuring out what's the best path, working with our docs.

"The best part of the whole process of these things happening is Coach Smart was very 'Do what you need to do. And we'll figure out the rest.'"

Shaka Smart has a 'next play' philosophy

That pragmatic approach is ingrained in Smart, who is in his 15th season as a head coach and has seen everything in college basketball. He often talks about taking a "next play" philosophy, so nobody dwells on mistakes or adversity.

"I try to learn from the stoics," Smart said with a smile on Thursday. "You just control what we can control. There are certain things that happen in basketball. It's very, very easy as player or a coach to feel, like, how is this happening to us? How is this happening to me?

"The reality is if you watch enough basketball and you are around it enough, things happen. Injuries happen. Bad bounces happen. Banked-in shots from well beyond the three(-point line) happen. Sometimes they happen in your favor, too.

"So we've asked our guys to control what we can control. Certainly it's my responsibility as a coach to set a good example in that way."

The mentality has trickled down to MU's players.

"It kind of just takes the excuses out of it," MU guard Kam Jones said. "It takes what it takes, hurt or not. If you're hurt and you playing, we still need you to do your job to the furthest extent that you can.

"We all out here trying to win, so it's a common goal. So if you have nagging injuries and you're going to play through it, we need to you play through it."

Tyler Kolek steadily attacked rehab for oblique injury

Wilka was thrust into the head-training job when longtime MU athletics staffer Brandon Yoder took a job at Nebraska. Wilka had already been cultivating relationships with players.

"This is going on my seventh year at Marquette," Wilka said. "Ever since I came on campus, I've always been the background guy for Yoder. Administration duties and things like that.

"So I've always been involved at some level. It was huge because if something happened to him, or family issues or something like that, I had a familiarity with the coaching staff and with the players. And that goes (back) before this year. So when (Yoder's new job) started to become reality or a possibility, he started integrating me more and more with the team."

Dealing with so many injuries on a team with national-championship expectations might seem like overwhelming pressure. But Wilka took his cues from Smart's reasoned approach.

"I've been around the opposite of that," Wilka said. "I will tell you it makes my job very easy to have someone who is understanding that I'm going to do everything I can and I want to see the success of the Marquette basketball team as much as anybody else in our program.

"Him giving me the faith and the belief that, hey, you're going to do what you need to do. That takes a lot of stress off me. We're not going to roll the dice and push things back too fast. Where we're just waiting for something to happen. He's, like, just say yes or say no. Then we'll fill in the rest of the pieces. We'll get other guys ready to go."

There also could have been pressure to rush back a consensus All-American like Kolek. Wilka gathered information and thought that it could be a four-to-six-week injury, but missing 20 to 24 days is pretty common. Kolek was hurt Feb. 28, and returned March 22, steadily attacking his rehab while also sublimating his desire to play in the Big East tournament in New York.

"We kind of said, all right, we need to put a game plan on and create an environment that we can heal," Wilka said. "I tell you one thing, we might have made good decisions, but the way Tyler handled it and what he did, it sped up the process.

"I asked him to do something, and he just went to the next level on what he was going to do. So part of its me, but a lot of it has to do with us creating an environment around him that was emotionally and physically healthy."

As Wilka was talking, the MU players spilled out of the locker room at American Airlines Center and heading out to the court for practice. Wilka had to make sure all the players' bodies were in working order.

Next play.