Kevin Ware redshirting remainder of 2013-14 season

Ware returned from that gruesome injury in a non-conference game against Cornell, but never fully got up to speed. He was only averaging six minutes in nine games since returning, which paled in comparison to the 16 minutes Ware averaged in a healthy 2012-2013 regular season. Coach Rick Pitino had been considering the medical redshirt option since late December.

Despite logging minutes this year, the NCAA allows players to medical redshirt if they have played less than 30 percent of their team’s games. Ware’s nine games account for just over 29 percent of Louisville’s 31-game regular-season schedule.

Ware has missed the last two games after being kicked in the right shin, and has been wearing a walking boot and using crutches. The injury was initially not considered to be serious.

Ware was averaging 1.7 points per game while playing just 5.9 minutes as the Cardinals slowly brought him back from the broken leg. Last season, the junior out of New York played 16.6 minutes per game off the bench and averaged 4.5 points per outing.

Ware suffered a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula against Duke in the Midwest regional final in March, one of the more gruesome injuries to occur on national television. His team went on to win the NCAA title without him, decked out in gear that honored their injured teammate.

In his exhibition debut, Ware received an ovation from the crowd when he entered the game in the second half. The Bronx, N.Y., native managed six points and four rebounds in 10 minutes of play. In his sophomore season, Ware averaged 4.5 points per game in 16 minutes of playing time.

No. 3 Louisville defeated NAIA Pikeville, 90-61, on Wednesday, but the real story was about a Cardinal who came off the bench to tally six points and four rebounds.

Many thought Ware’s first game would be this Saturday when the Cardinals open the regular season against College of Charleston. Louisville coach Rick Pitino said on Monday that Ware was back to full contact in practice and would dress against the Cougars.

The NCAA needed to lower the rims for Kevin Ware to participate as Louisville cut down the nets after winning the NCAA Tournament. Now, he can get there with no help.

From his teammate Chris Jones’ Instagram account (h/t FTW, who got it from Cardinal Connect)

As Yahoo! Sports reported, that is a portion of a message written by Kobe Bryant on his Facebook page last week after the Lakers guard tore his Achilles tendon. Ware tweeted the quote along with a picture of himself riding a stationary bike, as he begins to rehabilitate his broken leg.

The injury isn’t expected to be career-ending for Ware, although the rehabilitation will take quite some time. If Ware’s Twitter feed is any indication, he is in the right frame of reference to make the comeback.

Less than 24 hours after suffering one of the most horrific injuries you’ll ever see on a basketball court (or anywhere), Louisville guard Kevin Ware is continuing to showcase a positive attitude through his Twitter account.

Though a number of fake Twitter accounts have popped up since Ware became a national headline, the account @_billionairebev has been confirmed to be his own.

After surgery on a compound fracture to his right tibia, Kevin Ware is up and walking on crutches, and the Louisville guard expects to be with the team for the Final Four in Atlanta, with a recovery process still expected to last a year if not more.

Some rather inspiring pictures of Ware -- along with some nice memorabilia -- surfaced since successfully undergoing surgery. First, he might not have been on the court when Louisville pulled away to win the Midwest Regional after his first-half injury, but his teammates made sure he got the trophy:

The Louisville Cardinals had to pull out a gut-wrenching, emotional victory in the Elite Eight over the Duke Blue Devils to land their boarding passes to Atlanta for the Final Four.

The story, of course, isn’t so much that the NCAA Tournament’s top overall seed beat the Duke Blue Devils 85-63 on Sunday, but that they did so after watching backup guard Kevin Ware break his lower right leg in a horrific fashion right in front of the Louisville bench.

Heading into his senior season in 2006, Bush was touted as a Heisman candidate, and the Cardinals were a darkhorse pick to make the National Championship Game. Those lofty dreams were quickly dashed in the season opener against Kentucky, when his leg buckled underneath him while being tackled by linebacker Wesley Woodyard. He fractured both his tibia and fibia, ending his season almost as soon as it began.

Bush spent an hour in surgery and had a titanium rod and two screws inserted into his leg. With no hope of returning to the football field that season, he set his sights on the upcoming NFL Draft. Despite a six-month timetable, his leg wasn’t healthy enough to participate in the Combine. He had hoped to be ready to workout at Louisville’s pro day on March 26, but the leg just wasn’t healing properly, and he had to undergo a second surgery to insert a new rod.

UPDATE (11:00 P.M. ET): Ware’s surgery has been successful. He had his bone re-set, the wound closed and a metal rod inserted onto his right tibia.

Ware was taken to a local hospital, and after the game coach Rick Pitino confirmed that his leg is broken in two parts, with the bone sticking six inches out of the skin, and will be out for at least a year. He also added that it’s the same kind of injury running back Michael Bush had back in 2006 with the football team.

There’s scant good news. So much as an amateur basketball matchup is important, his teammates shook off the emotion of watching their teammate in pain and hold a slim lead at the half. And if there’s a good place to suffer a brutal leg injury, Indianapolis isn’t necessarily a bad place to do so:

So let’s end with hope: