(2020) PG - Andre Curbelo

[RaceToTheTop 23,917]

1 minute ago, RaceToTheTop said:

One thing I will say:  at some point someone needs to seriously examine him for CTE.  He was a little goofy as a freshman but started going off the rails as a sophomore.  Suffered a concussion that year and missed a lot of games...remember him doing strange things on the bench -- think he got a tech one game, another game on a dead ball the ball went to him and he shot it from the bench during a time out.  I recall a case later in the year after he was back that he took a pretty hard bump that I don't think Illinois looked at that much and I'm sure if Curbelo was suffering symptoms, he wouldn't have come forward because of the time he missed after the first one.

Just read that he also suffered a concussion in practice while at St. John's last year -- prior to their last regular season game against Marquette and he sat out the rest of the year (Marquette game plus two Big East tournament games).

Okay, IMO, this is just getting more evident.....this is what Curbelo said after he returned from the concussion he suffered that kept him out of 11 games while at Illinois:

“It was scary, man,” Curbelo said. “I mean I’ve had concussions before, but nothing like this one. It’s scary when you don’t really have a lot of answers and you don’t have a lot of knowledge of what’s going on.”

So.....when he says he's had concusions (plural), that's at least two and probably more prior to the one at Illinois.  He's had two known in the past two years and I suspect he had an additional late in the year at Illinois.  But even just examining the minimum, he had two prior to the one that sidelined him at Illinois, one at Illinois,  and one at St. John's.  And one of those was enough to really scare him and  seems to be the start of really erratic behavior.

[JSHoosier 19,609]

15 minutes ago, RaceToTheTop said:

One thing I will say:  at some point someone needs to seriously examine him for CTE.  He was a little goofy as a freshman but started going off the rails as a sophomore.  Suffered a concussion that year and missed a lot of games...remember him doing strange things on the bench -- think he got a tech one game, another game on a dead ball the ball went to him and he shot it from the bench during a time out.  I recall a case later in the year after he was back that he took a pretty hard bump that I don't think Illinois looked at that much and I'm sure if Curbelo was suffering symptoms, he wouldn't have come forward because of the time he missed after the first one.

Just read that he also suffered a concussion in practice while at St. John's last year -- prior to their last regular season game against Marquette and he sat out the rest of the year (Marquette game plus two Big East tournament games).

Unfortunately CTE cannot be diagnosed in a living person, only via autopsy after death.

[HoosierX 1,454]

18 minutes ago, RaceToTheTop said:

One thing I will say:  at some point someone needs to seriously examine him for CTE.  He was a little goofy as a freshman but started going off the rails as a sophomore.  Suffered a concussion that year and missed a lot of games...remember him doing strange things on the bench -- think he got a tech one game, another game on a dead ball the ball went to him and he shot it from the bench during a time out.  I recall a case later in the year after he was back that he took a pretty hard bump that I don't think Illinois looked at that much and I'm sure if Curbelo was suffering symptoms, he wouldn't have come forward because of the time he missed after the first one.

Just read that he also suffered a concussion in practice while at St. John's last year -- prior to their last regular season game against Marquette and he sat out the rest of the year (Marquette game plus two Big East tournament games).

The problem is that you can't test for CTE while someone is still alive, at least that's my understanding.

[JSHoosier 19,609]

39 minutes ago, HoosierX said:

The problem is that you can't test for CTE while someone is still alive, at least that's my understanding.

You can't.  Brain cells have to be examined under a microscope, so only via autopsy.

[RaceToTheTop 23,917]

57 minutes ago, JSHoosier said:

Unfortunately CTE cannot be diagnosed in a living person, only via autopsy after death.

Gotha.  Would think that he's a pretty good candidate for someone who has suffered it.  I can't say if he's had conversations with brain specialists in terms of the risks he has at this point after so many concussions at such a young age.  Just seems like a lot of red flags, IMO.

[Demo 17,598]

Whatever the issues are with Curbelo, hopefully he gets whatever help he needs, from a purely basketball perspective it’s such a shame. That kid’s got some unteachable stuff. 

[WayneFleekHoosier 46,953]

1 hour ago, RaceToTheTop said:

Gotha.  Would think that he's a pretty good candidate for someone who has suffered it.  I can't say if he's had conversations with brain specialists in terms of the risks he has at this point after so many concussions at such a young age.  Just seems like a lot of red flags, IMO.

Never considered this option but Its interesting for sure.  I guess the chicken and egg debate can commence because I think he's always been a bit of a thorn so its hard to say but its definitely an interesting theory.  

[RaceToTheTop 23,917]

58 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Never considered this option but Its interesting for sure.  I guess the chicken and egg debate can commence because I think he's always been a bit of a thorn so its hard to say but its definitely an interesting theory.  

Yeah, he's been a goofball for sure.  But there were some things he was doing on the bench while he was sitting out with his concussion his sophomore year that were just really, really strange behavior even for him.  

This article to me sends big red flags, not just for Curbelo but for how Illinois is handling the safety of their players.

So.....getting headaches every single day for two straight months, what does Underwood do?  Gave him two days of non-contact practice and THEN PLAYED HIM......two months, headaches every day, two practices (and actually that would have a practice the afternoon before a game and the morning of the game, both with no contact.....and Underwood played him 26 minutes.

“He practiced two days guys,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said. “And he had a colored jersey on so that we could avoid contact with him. It’s kind of like putting the pink jersey on the quarterback, you don’t hit him. And then he goes out and plays in a real game. He was cleared, about 4 o’clock, 4:30 the day before the game. He knew we’d give him a little run, but for his condition to be what it was, and he was gassed at the end.”

 

[Class of '66 Old Fart 81,291]

And remember how long Rob Phinisee was out after suffering a concussion and the symptoms he reported he experienced.   Certainly raises a question about the Illinois medical folks and Underwood in particular.