Despite Suffering a Serious Knee Injury, Karter Thomas Is Ready For a Big Senior Season
On February 23rd, Oshkosh West and Karter Thomas took on Neenah with the WIAA Playoffs looming in the background. On that day, Neenah beat the Wildcats by a comfortable margin. The loss was disappointing, but for O-West, the biggest loss…
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Continue ReadingOn February 23rd, Oshkosh West and Karter Thomas took on Neenah with the WIAA Playoffs looming in the background. On that day, Neenah beat the Wildcats by a comfortable margin. The loss was disappointing, but for O-West, the biggest loss didn’t come to the Rockets. Karter Tomas, Oshkosh West’s leading scorer, went down with a significant knee injury that sidelined him for the rest of the season. Thomas’ injury twisted the knife in what was already a painful defeat. Granted, West failed to elongate their season as Marshfield knocked them out of the playoffs in the first round. But, a healthy Karter Thomas could have changed that outcome and possibly lifted his team to a couple of playoff wins
Before his injury, Thomas was a dynamic player who was regarded as one of the best scorers and players in the Fox Valley Association. Scoring 24.2 points per game and earning the scoring title in the FVA, Thomas was in the front row of the Wisconsin high school basketball painting during the season. However, he has been unable to play AAU basketball and thus the PG has been painted over with players who are.
Thomas is in an unfortunate predicament, but his recovery seems to be on the right path. The guard says that he thinks he will be able to make his return to the court when his team dons their uniforms in November. As for his rehab, Thomas said, “I tore my ACL and Meniscus, my ACL is going really good. My meniscus is what they are more concerned and being extra careful with. At the moment I am doing balance, some squats, and elliptical machines for cardio; nothing too serious yet. In about a month I will be able to start to jump and do more things. But overall everything is going good!”
Although Thomas is immobilized, he still wants to improve many things in his game. When asked about what he needs to improve, Thomas said, I need to improve on my ball handling and tightening up my dribble. I also wanna work on more of the dribble stuff and moving without the ball more. I also would like to work on being a better overall leader for the team and getting more of my teammates involved.” As for areas where he excels, the guard stated “I think my biggest strength is my shooting, it’s the number one thing I have worked on the most! I would also say that my driving ability and using my strength is something I am pretty good at. And I also think seeing the floor and just understanding the game is something that has helped me also goes with experience as well.”
After suffering a serious injury, many players would be content to just get back on the court. Thomas, on the other hand, wants a little more. “My biggest goal of my senior year is to go to state and get a ball! I think realistically we can win the FVA this year and down to stdate, it’s wide open! I also have some individual goals for myself, but the most important thing for me is team success because I have gotten enough recognition individually…We have been putting in a lot of work this offseason so far and I think this is going to be the best year of my career at Oshkosh West and hopefully, we can have everyone healthy the whole year.” In the 2018-19 season, West had some nice pieces, but they were unable to put them together and complete the puzzle.
Before Thomas suffered a catastrophic knee injury, he was talking to multiple programs. “As of late it’s been pretty slow with recruiting…right before I got hurt, Winona State, Minnesota Duluth, North Dakota University, Minnesota Moorhead all were in touch with me. I would say out of all of the schools Duluth and North Dakota were the most interested. Just expect it to be a little slow until I get back on the court and I understand that completely!” Thomas said. Not playing on the AAU Circuit has hampered Thomas’ visibility, but when he is healthy, he has proven himself a player who is in the upper echelon of elite players.
Not playing AAU has hurt Thomas in more than one way. Not only have the recruitment conversations been chilled, , he also misses being on the court. “I miss playing AAU so much because this year is the year where all the coaches watch you. It hurts knowing I will not be able to play my junior year, but at the end of the day I don’t over think it because it won’t help me. I think depending on how the recruiting and the season goes for high school ball, I might play AAU as an unsigned senior. But there’s nothing like playing four games in a weekend playing against other top players and it’s just something that cannot be compared to other basketball.”
As a junior at Oshkosh West, Karter Thomas led the FVA is scoring. Completing that task again will be an uphill battle, but Thomas’ climb is almost done. With his rehab progressing at a fast speed, the guard will be producing on the court in no time.