In his home in Short Hills, New Jersey, Alex Rosenberg lay on his back, an uncomfortable position for someone who is normally a side sleeper. He couldn’t get up and go to the fridge or cook. He could only dress himself sometimes, when his foot would cooperate.

When he wasn’t trying to sleep on his back, he was facing the ceiling, slinging a basketball up toward it. That was the closest he could get to the gym at Columbia, where he had played college basketball for the last three years.

A Jones fracture in his right foot forced Columbia’s leading scorer from the 2013-14 season to elevate his leg for “90 percent” of the time. Rosenberg didn’t shoot a basketball for four months, the longest stretch he can remember because typically he shoots each day.

Rosenberg not only missed last season but also withdrew from school. He maintains that it would have been too difficult to get around Columbia on crutches. Had he stayed in school, he would’ve lost a year of eligibility because of Ivy League rules, which do not allow players to redshirt.

“The decision was primarily from an academic standpoint,” Rosenberg said. “… It would have been completely unreasonable. I can’t go to class, I can’t compete as an athlete, too, so I had to withdraw.”

Rosenberg stopped, pivoted and planted as he guarded a teammate in practice on Oct. 24, 2014. He felt a crack in his right foot and pain rushing from the middle of it. Rosenberg had ankle sprains in the past, so he knew this wasn’t the case.

Initially he thought he would miss a month of classes in the second semester, the rest of the first semester and most of basketball season. He talked to Columbia head coach Kyle Smith and his parents about withdrawing from Columbia, and they OK’d the move.

“I’ve been coaching 23 years and there’s only a handful of guys that care as much as he does,” Smith said.

About two weeks prior to Rosenberg’s foot fracture, NBA star Kevin Durant suffered the same injury. Rosenberg saw the Thunder rush Durant back, he said, and he didn’t want to do the same with his own injury.

Doctor Jonathan Deland at the Hospital for Special Surgery gave Rosenberg deadlines to meet for rehab. Slowly, Rosenberg progressed from having his ankle elevated to walking around. The forward started doing upper-body lifts with a trainer when he couldn’t walk around.

By the end of Columbia’s season, Rosenberg wasn’t even off his crutches, but he didn’t miss a single home game. He sat about 15 rows behind the Lions’ bench for each game. His dad would drive the hour-long trip because Rosenberg couldn’t and that meant his dad had to leave work early sometimes.

“Even when I was feeling down and just wanted to stay home,” Rosenberg said, “(My dad) was like, ‘Listen, let’s go,’ and he really got me trying to feel in a better mindset.”

Because he had withdrawn, he was not allowed to be involved in team activities, but would wait for his teammates after games to talk to them. When he was healthy enough to be off crutches, Rosenberg started rehabbing and started interning at a wealth management firm in Midtown Manhattan.

Rosenberg returned to the team once he enrolled again. His calf muscle had deteriorated from being in a boot and being elevated. It took another two to three months after he got off crutches to fully get back his jump shot back.

Now, Columbia has a player back that has grown with the program. Four seasons ago, Rosenberg started molding into the player Smith wanted and expected. Columbia had amassed a 21-point lead against Yale at home, who went on to finish fourth in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs started pressing Columbia about midway through the second half.

As one of the guards in a “press break,” he corralled a pass as a second defender trapped him. He tried lobbing the ball over the trap and it flew out of bounds. The next Yale possession started a run that ended with a 59-58 loss for the Lions.

Smith reamed out Rosenberg in the locker room after the game for the mistake.

He basically said, ‘Either it’s you’re all in or you can go somewhere else.’ You never expect to hear that from a coach, so when I heard that I’m not gonna lie, I broke down a little bit.

Alex Rosenberg

The chewing out pushed Rosenberg to start watching more film so he could read the game better.
After the game, Smith said Rosenberg became more of a “team player.” That’s what Columbia missed out on in addition to the 16 points and 3.7 rebounds he averaged two seasons ago.

Rosenberg’s return will help take pressure off of senior guard Maodo Lo, a potential NBA draft pick and scored 18.4 points per game to lead the Lions last season.

“Yes (it takes pressure off me),” Lo said. “Now we have a low-post player with Alex who is able to score.”

Now, Rosenberg can sleep on his side and dress himself. He’s been able to get back to class work. And on Nov. 13, when Columbia takes on Kean in its season opener, he’ll be suiting up for the first time in a year.

Published on November 12, 2015 at 8:19 am

Contact Chris: cjlibona@syr.edu | @ChrisLibonati