MEN'S HOOPS NOTEBOOK: Extra bone forced Brown to have surgery

Penn forward Fank Brown had surgery last week to alleviate pain in his left knee due to an extra bone According to modern science, Frank Brown is not human. Any biology textbook will tell you that human beings have 206 bones in their bodies. Brown has 207. The extra bone in the Penn sophomore's left knee has been more of a nuisance, though, than a blessing. After suffering pain in the knee for some time, Brown had an MRI a few weeks ago and surgery last Tuesday morning to correct the situation. Brown returned to the same doctor in Los Angeles who originally operated on his torn patella tendon in his right knee a couple years ago. The operation, which is a relatively new procedure, involved putting a pin in a stress fracture area of his left knee, which also locked the bones in place. Although Brown is now using a crutch to support his weight, he should be fully recovered in three to four weeks. Instead of removing the extra bone, which requires three to four months of recovery and rehabilitation, Brown instead had the pin inserted and will only miss about a month of practices. Quakers coach Fran Dunphy is not going to rush the situation either. "We're not going to be pushing him to get back as quickly as possible," Dunphy said. "Let's take our time with this -- make sure he's as close to 100 percent as possible before he really starts playing hard again." · The morning after Brown was under the knife, sophomore forward Paul Romanczuk also sat on the operating table to repair a torn ligament in his left wrist. The injury originally occurred when Romanczuk fell in a summer league game. The initial thought was to let it heal on its own. Although the wrist did heal somewhat, the progress was slow enough to warrant a decision to operate. Romanczuk is expected to be out another five weeks -- three more weeks of immobilization, plus two weeks of rehabilitation. · After transferring from Rice and sitting out the required one year as mandated by the NCAA, George Mboya was considering leaving the team earlier this fall. It appears that Mboya has decided to continue playing, however. "George was questioning whether or not he wanted to play this year," Dunphy said. "But those questions are over and done with, and he's been practicing and doing a very good job." · With over a month to go before the December 3 season opener, the Quakers starting five is far from set. In terms of the guard positions, however, some things are decided. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the starting guard roles should remain as they were until Jamie Lyren's midseason injury. After suffering a season-ending broken foot against Penn State last year, Lyren will return to lead the offense at the point, and junior Garrett Kreitz will remain at the shooting guard position. Freshman Michael Jordan will be the backup at point guard, with fellow rookie Matt Langel spelling Kreitz. "We have a long way to go yet," Dunphy said. "We'll try a lot of different combinations in the next couple weeks. Those things have a way of working themselves out without a whole lot of intervention by me at this point." · The Quakers are planning to elect team captains today.