ESPN Women's Basketball

LINCOLN, Neb. -- It might seem weird to be reading about someone who isn't playing basketball this season. By the end, though, you'll understand her story needs to be told.

When you cover basketball, you run into players who don't have a firm grip on their basketball talent. Sometimes, it's a bad situation, because they overestimate themselves. Other times, though, it's just the opposite. They have no idea how good they are.

This was the case with Nebraska's Kelsey Griffin. In fact, going into her freshman season (2005-06), she was clueless.

"I was hoping I could play five minutes a game," said Griffin, a 6-foot-2 forward. "And by the end of the year, if I worked hard, maybe 10. I thought I'd be thrilled to do that."

From a town called Eagle River in Alaska, she moved to the state that rhymes with her home state -- but was located right in the midst of something she knew nothing about.

"I didn't realize what a power conference the Big 12 was," she said. "I kind of ended up here by chance."

Who knows what unexpected paths life will take? Her parents, Jim and Jan Griffin, originally were from Iowa and Minnesota, respectively. Then they visited Alaska.

"We went up there on vacation in 1982 and really fell in love with it," Jan said. "And we got jobs and stayed. It was going to be a two-year commitment -- and it's turned into more than two decades."

Jim describes Alaska like this: "I think the great thing about it is people there don't ask, really, what you've done in the past, but, 'What are you going to do now?' Everybody sort of starts with a clean slate."

Kelsey was born there in 1987. She didn't get a lot of exposure in the lower 48, understandably, so she wasn't a big-time superstar recruit. But Nebraska coach Connie Yori knew she had struck Alaskan gold. Not that she told Griffin that during those fall 2005 practices. She yelled and cajoled, and Griffin figured her new coach considered her "a worthless player."

Meanwhile, Griffin was awed by her teammates' skills. She admired them, especially Danielle Page. Wow, Griffin thought, so this is what women's college basketball is really like. Hence, her desire to play five minutes a game. Ten if she really busted her tail.

So you can imagine Griffin's surprise when Yori tapped the rookie for the starting lineup in her first game. In fact, she got the nod all 32 games that season, averaging 13.3 points.

Maybe she wasn't so worthless after all.

Two games from Griffin's freshman season stand out. The Huskers were playing at Kansas State, and the Wildcats could do nothing to stop her. Griffin had 28 points and 12 rebounds that night, even though that very month she was diagnosed with mononucleosis and probably had it for a while.

Later, in the postseason, Nebraska was back at K-State for the WNIT. At one point, Griffin soared to pull a rebound off the rim. I thought to myself, "She really just did that, didn't she? I wonder how good this kid is when she can actually breathe."

The next season, the mono was gone -- but her breathing problems lingered. She underwent all kinds of tests, worried a lot about it, but nobody ever really figured it out. She still started every game -- and helped lead the Huskers to their first NCAA tournament since 2000, averaging 15.0 points and 8.3 rebounds.

Then, last season in an exhibition game, she was going for a ball, stretched out … and … bam!

"A girl just dove on top of me," Griffin said. "I think it was a clean play, no bad intention on her part. But I was totally blindsided."

A cracked rib, and it hurt like crazy. Still flares up at times.

"They think it was mostly cartilage damage," she said. "I ended up playing with a quarterback flak jacket. It took me a long time to recover from that, not just physically but mentally.

"Normally, I'm such a physical player -- that's where I get my points. But it was hard to muscle through that pain. On top of just being afraid to get hit again because it hurt so bad."

Oh, and there was something else that happened last season, too. Her father was diagnosed with cancer. But -- you guessed it -- she played through it all. She did miss four games recovering from the rib injury. But she still started 29 games and had another strong season, averaging 15.3 points and 7.2 rebounds.

Nebraska went back to the NCAA tournament and won a game this time, before falling to Maryland on the Terps' home court.

You might think that the laws of averages had to be on Griffin's side for her senior season. Jim was on disability leave from his job as a pharmacist and was going to be able to spend more time in Lincoln while continuing cancer treatments in Chicago. Jan had switched from her job as a maternity nurse to working in a cancer center. She was set to make the standard trip from home -- Anchorage to Minneapolis to Omaha by plane, Omaha to Lincoln by rental car -- as often as possible. And come to as many of the Huskers' road games as she could.

Then Griffin was playing pickup with her teammates on Aug. 28. You can probably guess what happened -- although at least this time, it had nothing to do with hindering her breathing.

"I came down on [teammate] Cat Redmon's foot," Griffin said. "When I first did it, I thought I broke my ankle. But the X-rays were negative. I rehabbed, took it easy. But as soon as I started doing court stuff, I thought, 'This is unreal,' because of the pain that I was having doing routine stuff."

Griffin ended up having surgery on her left ankle on Dec. 4. She'll redshirt the season.

Think she's grumpy or bitter or feels like she has had one too many bad breaks? Nah. She talks about how fortunate she was to be teammates with someone like Page, whom she says was "as crucial to my success as my coaches were."

Griffin looks to the opportunity to learn and grow from a season on the sidelines, especially to fill the leadership role Yori will need from her next year. She thinks maybe it's all a blessing, a chance to have one more summer before her senior year to get ready for what she hopes will be her best season yet.

And she has had something else to brighten an already-positive outlook on life. Jim got the news that he is cancer-free. He said his latest bill of health was "as good as it gets."

Jim and Jan were both at a recent Huskers game, watching along with Kelsey. Asked if they're prepared to do this all over again next season, Jan laughed and said, "Oh, yeah. I'm already working hard to figure out how often I'll be able to come."

Griffin, a two-time All-Big 12 first teamer, surely has had more than her share of setbacks, but she actually starts to chuckle talking about it.

"Who knows if I'd be able to function if I wasn't sick or injured," she joked. "But you know, I have such a great team. They make it worthwhile. I do understand my team has relied on me, but we're a lot better team than people give us credit for -- with me or without me. There's a good chance they can do just fine without me."

They'll have to for this season. But Yori, the Huskers and their fans will look forward to having her again in 2009-10.

So don't forget about Kelsey Griffin. And when you watch her on the court or see her name in a box score again, remember, "That's the kid from Alaska who's already climbed a lot of mountains."

Mechelle Voepel is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. She can be reached at mvoepel123@yahoo.com.