San Diego State forward Dwayne Polee II, head coach Steve Fisher and team physician Allen Richburg addressed the media today regarding Polee's health condition after he collapsed and seemingly lost consciousness on Dec. 22 against UC Riverside.
"Our main concern is Dwayne's health," Fisher said. "It's not about when he can play, it's about getting healthy."
Fisher said an incident similar to the one that occurred several nights ago happened last year when Polee staggered and fell to a knee during practice in Decemeber 2013. Fisher said Polee was tended to by medical personnel during practice and that doctors later medically cleared him to play basketball. He said Polee underwent tests again at the beginning of summer, and doctors again cleared Polee for basketball activity.
Fisher said Polee took two games off after the incident in practice. When looking at his stats from last year, one sees that Polee missed SDSU's games on Dec. 18 and Dec. 21.
Dr. Richburg was asked how doctors look at Polee's condition knowing that something similar happened to him last year.
"(When something happens twice) it heightens the medical team's awareness of the event," he said.
Dr. Richburg said it's too early to know if last year's incident and Polee's recent collapse are related.
Dr. Richburg wasn't able to release very much medical information in order to protect Polee's privacy. However, he said doctors have been able to rule out Marfan syndrome, what former Baylor star Isaiah Austin has, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, what the late Loyola Marymount star Hank Gathers died from on the court in 1990.
He said Polee will undergo more tests next week and doctors should know more then.
Polee thanked people for all their prayers, love and support, and he specifically thanked all the medical personnel for taking care of him this last week.
Polee said he definitely wishes he was playing instead of sitting on the sidelines, but his teammates are making this process a whole lot easier. He also said he hopes to play again this season.