The stunning news of Bronny James’ cardiac arrest is sinking in at USC. For the second straight summer, a top USC basketball freshman has suffered cardiac arrest. It’s a turn of events which is beyond improbable, but it happened.
People interested in the condition of Bronny James and in his basketball future will obviously have to wait to see how Bronny’s body responds. We’re not likely to get any kind of long-term prognosis in the near future. The main priority is Bronny’s recovery and overall stability. Recovering health, strength and stamina will all be important for his quality of life. Getting back to the basketball court is plainly not a priority right now.
USC has been through this process before. One year ago, Vince Iwuchukwu — like Bronny — suffered cardiac arrest during a summer basketball workout. Because he was on campus and performing basketball activities, USC’s athletic training and medical staff were on hand to immediately provide expert care and assistance.
Every person — every human body — is unique in how it responds to trauma and the recovery process. It is important to stress at the outset that one should have no expectations about Bronny James’ recovery. His return to the court isn’t guaranteed, and no one should think that one person’s recovery from cardiac arrest in 2022 somehow guarantees that Bronny will make the same recovery in 2023. Let’s be very clear about that point.
However, it is useful — just as a marker and a comparison, nothing more — to remind everyone about Vince Iwuchukwu’s recovery timeline last season at USC. This doesn’t mean Bronny will have the same path, but it is instructive in that it shows both the possibilities and the limits involved when a late-teenage basketball player suffers trauma and tries to return to the court.
Vince Iwuchukwu, like Bronny James, suffered cardiac arrest at USC in July. The news of his cardiac arrest was revealed in late September, but the actual incident occurred in July.
Iwuchukwu was able to return to practices late in 2022. He was then medically cleared to play on January 12, 2023, for a game against Colorado. He did, however, play only five minutes in that game. USC was appropriately cautious with Iwuchukwu’s minutes. He played only six minutes in his next game against Utah on January 14.
Iwuchukwu wound up playing 14 games last season. He didn’t play more because he suffered back pain late in the season. He missed USC’s Pac-12 Tournament and NCAA Tournament games in March. For the season, Iwuchukwu played 193 minutes in 14 games, an average of just under 14 minutes per game.
A starter-level player will generally play 30 to 35 minutes. Iwuchukwu’s minutes were commensurate with a seventh or eighth man off the bench. The hope for Iwuchukwu this coming season is that he can consistently play 20 or more minutes. How Iwuchukwu and fellow big man Joshua Morgan perform could affect how many minutes Iwuchukwu plays.
The hope is that he won’t be limited in minutes from a medical standpoint; limits could be more related to performance and team needs. However, nothing has yet been confirmed in terms of specific medical concerns being removed for Iwuchukwu this coming season. We might hear more details as the season comes closer.
Below is a video from USC on Iwuchukwu’s cardiac arrest, the quick action of trainers and medical staff to save him, the road to recovery, the return to the court on January 12, and more.
None of this guarantees anything about Bronny James’ recovery or future, but again, it’s notable to have this timeline laid out before you, so that you at least know what happened the last time a USC freshman suffered cardiac arrest in July:
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