Don't call it a comeback

Rachael Gregory knows she’ll never be the player she was before she destroyed the cartilage in her knee, tearing it in three places.

But the women’s basketball player doesn’t want to be.

Even though she used to average 10.7 points per game, was the team’s leading scorer, was said to have potential to be the one of the best players in the conference by head coach Felisha Legette-Jack, Gregory doesn’t want to be who she was before on the court.

“I’m a new person all together. I don’t want to go back because I think that would be limiting myself,” Gregory said.

After nearly two years away from the game, Gregory is returning to the lineup to Buffalo team that is predicted to finish first in the Mid-American Conference East this season. She hopes to contribute and fit back into the team after missing the second half of her freshman season and medically redshirting last season.

It was a routine play that caused Gregory to miss nearly two years of basketball. She cut to the basket in the first half of Buffalo’s Jan. 19, 2013 game at Toledo; only the play did not end routinely.

Gregory’s knee need gave out.

She didn’t need a doctor to tell her it wasn’t just a minor injury.

“I kind of knew right then and there my season was over,” Gregory said.

She had surgery and sat out the rest of the season. She decided to medically redshirt last season as opposed to playing half the season and coming back feeling less than 100 percent. She now has three seasons of eligilbity remaining.

Gregory rehabbed to fully recover her knee. She was able to practice with the team a few times a week but would have to watch on the sidelines come game day.

Sitting out from a game is tough for all players, but for Gregory, sitting on the sidelines went against what she was raised to do.

Gregory grew up in Indiana, where Legette-Jack said “you live and breathe basketball.”

“From the womb you have a basketball in your hand,” Legette-Jack said. “So for her not play one year and then to have to make a decision not to play that second year, that just tore her heart out. But what we’ve found is Rachael is a committed kind of person.”

Gregory used the time away from basketball to improve in other areas. Because she did not have to focus on preparing for an opponent every week, Gregory focused on civil engineering.

She pulled off a high GPA in a tough major.

“Now, she’s going to split that time and she knows she can do both, she can play basketball and be a good student,” Legette-Jack said.

Gregory also used the past year-and-a-half to become an all-around player.

Gregory couldn’t be on the floor for full contact, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t work on her free throw shooting or study film.

She said she only played off of instinct her freshman season. Now, she’s learning more about the game.

“I don’t just charge straight toward the basket,” Gregory said. “Now, I can read more situations.”

Gregory said her shots improved and she shoots free throws better. A major knee injury can be a set back for a player, but Gregory says it has only enhanced her playing.

“I think this time has given me the time to improve other parts of my game that I didn’t necessarily have my freshman year,” she said.

Gregory hesitated to answer when asked about what her first game in almost two years will be like for her. She was reserved, saying the most important thing will be to win. Legette-Jack warned she’d pull Gregory from the game if she sensed her sophomore guard/forward overwhelmed by the moment.

The moment didn’t seem overwhelming for Gregory, as she scored 12 points and grabbed three rebounds in just 15 minutes in Buffalo’s 89-54 exhibition victory over Buffalo State Nov. 8.

It was only a preseason game, but Gregory was able play in an actual game for the first time since January 2013. She cut to the basket without fear and played physically, as she got knocked down onto the floor several times.

Legette-Jack just likes the fact she’s on the hardwood.

“It’s just neat to watch her run and up and down the floor,” Legette-Jack said. “She’s certainly not at game shape right now, mentally or physically, but my goodness, she’s an athletic body and is a good choice to have. I’m really excited she’s a part of this thing.”

Gregory wears a black knee brace on the court but said she has no complications from the injury – she tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), lateral meniscus and medical meniscus.

Legette-Jack says Gregory “gets yelled at like everyone else.”

Gregory may never be player who led Buffalo in scoring as a freshman again. But that might be a good thing. Gregory thinks she can be even better.

email: sports@ubspectrum.com