Parker eager to join Lady Vols in practice

KNOXVILLE — Lady Vols freshman Candace Parker was so excited about getting cleared to practice yesterday that she threw on her uniform and warm-up jersey for the second half of the Lady Vols' 70-67 win over No. 2 Stanford.

''I almost put her in late,'' Coach Pat Summitt joked.

One of the highest-profile recruits in Lady Vols history, Parker had arthroscopic knee surgery on Aug. 26 and Sept. 8. She met with UT team orthopedist Dr. William Youmans yesterday and was given the OK to start practicing when she came into the locker room at halftime.

At the time of the first knee surgery, Summitt said Parker could miss one year.

When the Lady Vols reconvene on Sunday, Parker will practice in a limited role, Lady Vol athletic trainer Jenny Moshak said yesterday.


Moshak said Parker still has a long way to go in the recovery process, and that there is no timetable set on when she will see her first collegiate minutes.

''I don't want to say that she is back yet,'' Moshak said. ''We're going to progress slowly, and we're going to see. If she has any swelling, we're pulling her. But she's worked hard. She's earned it.

''The last thing that we want to do is throw her into a game prematurely without having a good analysis of what we've got here, and then ruining the rest of the year by one game.''

The 6-foot-3 native of Naperville, Ill., won the slam-dunk contest at the McDonald's High School All-American game last spring — beating out five men. But Summitt said she's not going to even guess when Parker will get on the floor.

''Don't even go there,'' Summitt said. ''I'm just excited Dr. Youmans gave her the green light (to practice).''

Parker was allowed to start jumping while she worked out with Moshak this past week, but Moshak said she has known for about a month that the chance of Parker returning this season was pretty good.

Once the Lady Vols get back from holiday break, they will spend two weeks on the road.

''The good news is we're pretty much limited on our time for practices on the road, so we won't have the gym for so much time,'' Moshak said. ''That's going to help us. I'm going to go over the practice plan with Pat and see how much up-and-down we're actually going to do.''