Oscar Tshiebwe will "absolutely" be back to start the season

Most players would be concerned about undergoing knee surgery just a month out from the regular season, especially after coming back from an accolade-filled, record-shattering debut campaign the year before. Oscar Tshiebwe, though, isn’t like most players.

Shocker, right?

The reigning National Player of the Year felt discomfort in his knee after Kentucky basketball’s Pro Day. Then the swelling started. There was some pain, sure, but Tshiebwe planned to fight through and play, no matter how stiff or uncomfortable he was.

Team doctors decided against it.

“After the Pro Day, I was running and it was swelling a little bit,” Tshiebwe said at Media Day on Tuesday. “I could push, but with the swelling, the coaches said, ‘No Oscar, we need to get it checked.’ We got it checked and they said it needed to be done, so it was God’s plan.”

He told the coaches he wanted to practice the very next day, immediately after Pro Day. He’d run until his leg fell off — literally.

Instead, the clean-up procedure would get his knee fixed for good and allow him to play with no limitations or setbacks moving forward. Frustrating in the short term, but better in the long.

“I had a pain in there, but I’m a warrior. Unless my wheel falls off, then I’ll keep running,” Tshiebwe said. “If I’ve got pain, I’m going to keep going because I don’t quit. I was feeling pain and the swelling was big, I couldn’t bend my knee. But at the Pro Day, I was good. I told Coach the next day, ‘Let me go.’ He said, ‘No Oscar, we need to take care of this before the season starts.’ We got it taken care of.”

Until then, though, it’s about continuing rehab and relaxing — even if that means fewer autographs and photos for a while.

“He’s moving pretty good, moving around,” head coach John Calipari said. “He’s got to stay off his feet. The kid will stand and sign autographs, take pictures — we’ve got to get him off his feet so when he trains, it may swell a little bit, but it’ll go away. For the time being, that’s what it is. He’ll train, swell a little bit, and then it’ll go away.

“But he’s telling me, “I feel really good. My leg feels really good, I don’t have the same pain that was there. It wasn’t much, but there’s nothing now.’ It’s more that he’s just got to go through it.”

“My knee is feeling better. We keep doing the rehab, it’s feeling great,” Tshiebwe added. “… Right now I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do to get my knee ready to help my team. It’s not something that’s big, I’m not even worried about it because God told me, ‘I will heal you.’ Now we’ve just got to follow the process, make sure I’m good and 100% healthy so I can be ready for the rest of the season. I’m ready and I’m excited.”

So what does that mean regarding a timetable for return? The star center says he’ll likely miss Kentucky’s pair of exhibition games against Missouri Western and Kentucky State, but the expectation is he’ll be back for the regular season. No real games missed due to injury.

“Absolutely (I expect to be back to start the year),” Tshiebwe said. “To be honest, I don’t feel like I’ll miss any games. I’ll probably miss the exhibition games because it’s not really necessary and it gives me more time, but I don’t think I’ll miss any games.”

Calipari says they’ll bring him back at his own pace, however short or long that may be. The star center is clearly wired differently, but he’s also a 6-foot-9, 252-pound center coming back from knee surgery.

“We’re not going to hold him back, but you’re not going to push him forward either,” Calipari said. “His pace and timing may be different from someone else. Someone else may be longer, someone else may be shorter, I don’t know. I do know he’s 252 pounds, he’s big. Seven percent body fat on top of it, but (still big).”

Tshiebwe says he’ll continue to work with team doctors and trainers regarding a return-to-play schedule. He feels ready to go now, but he’ll wait for the official green light from the medical professionals.

“It depends on Geoff (Staton), our athletic trainer, depending on them and what they tell me. I’m ready to go, I’m just going to tell them how I feel every single day. We’re going to just keep moving forward.”

The expectation, though, is that Tshiebwe will be back for Kentucky’s regular-season opener vs. Howard on Nov. 7 — just 13 days away.