Thoughts on the Lucia illness

For the first time in his 22-year coaching career, Minnesota head coach Don Lucia was not behind the bench for his team's games this weekend in the Dodge Holiday Classic at Mariucci Arena.

Friday night, Lucia wasn't even in the building. He watched Minnesota's win Saturday over No. 6 Northeastern from the comforts of the Mariucci Arena press box.

Following the Gophers' win Friday against Brown, Pioneer Press beat writer Bruce Brothers reported in his game story that the illness which has kept Lucia from practice the last week is not serious.

Saturday, Lucia announced he will not be heading to Grand Forks next weekend for the Gophers' series against North Dakota at Ralph Engelstad Arena. In addition to the complicated nature of his illness (a weeks worth of tests have not revealed what he has), one must now believe the complication is more serious than Lucia or the University is letting on.

"I started feeling a little bit under the weather last Saturday," Lucia said Saturday. "I've had numerous tests taken the last week and that's why I haven't been out there. Some of the medications I'm on, I haven't felt comfortable being out there. And because of the timing of some of the tests, I couldn't make it [to practice].

"The big thing right now is, all the tests have been negative," Lucia added. "There's still three or four things it could be, but right now we just don't know."

That just can't be good news. If Lucia had a bad cold or the flu, it would have been revealed in any number of the tests he has undergone during the last week. The fact that his illness has apparently been narrowed down to "three or four things" likely means Lucia has an idea of what ails him. At the minimum, he has it narrowed down to only a couple things.

But it doesn't take a million medical exams to tell that there is something genuinely wrong with Lucia. I know from my experience in covering the league over the last four years, he just doesn't look or sound right.

The simple fact that he nor the university will disclose his condition leads me to believe its more serious than initially thought. Here's hoping I am wrong.