3/15/2017 basketball Edit

Versyp starts biggest battle

Kyle Charters • BoilerUpload

Staff Writer

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Sharon Versyp has long been the Boilermakers’ rock.

The 11th-year Purdue coach is a fighter — it’s a descriptor used for her more than any other — who doesn’t back down. She likes the battle. She likes to prove others wrong.

She likes challenges.

And she has a personal one right now, as she was recently diagnosed as having an early stage of a type of breast cancer, ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

“I’ll still be the rock, but I might be a little softer rock with some bruises,” said Versyp on Wednesday, two days before the Boilermakers play in their NCAA opener. “I need prayers, I need help, I need everything else that others have been able to give to other people. (Accepting those will) be the hardest for me to do.”

Perhaps no one, though, is more prepared for this test. Versyp has been closely touched by cancer, her mom dying of leukemia when Sharon was only 34 (after her dad had died of a heart attack less than a decade before).

Terry Kix, Purdue’s director of operations, was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2012, undergoing arduous chemotherapy treatments over the next several months until it was eradicated. First-year Purdue assistant Beth Couture was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. The Boilermakers have had other health scares as well, like when Drey Mingo nearly died in 2010 after contracting bacterial meningitis.

Versyp was supportive then, but needs the help herself now.

“This group is what sees you through and takes your mind off the real issues,” she said. “They’re young kids and this is also a teaching lesson, which Terry has always conveyed to them, that life is precious. We think we have tough issues until we’re faced with the real tough ones.

“The group of girls is fantastic, very loving, very caring. But it’s the family here at Purdue, the community here, that’s going to see me through and I really appreciate it.”

Because of her family’s history, Versyp has long been health conscious and a proponent of early-detection measures. It’s a reason why her cancer was discovered early, and a reason why she’ll be able to continue coaching in the NCAA Tournament while she seeks treatment options.

She’s already gotten two opinions and will get a third, with a visit to Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital, a prominent cancer center, in New York. In April, Versyp will decide on a treatment plan.

“As any cancer patient will tell you, the road is not easy,” Kix said. “It is going to be a challenge, but Sharon is very strong. She’s very positive. And she will seek the best medical team that’s possible, with a lot of love and support. She has a lot of great attributes moving forward to battle and we’re all behind her and we’ll get through this.”

Versyp has all this on her mind while she’s also coaching the ninth-seeded Boilermakers to their first-round NCAA game vs. No. 8 Green Bay at 5 p.m. Friday. And it just so happens that she’ll be doing so in South Bend, near her hometown of Mishawaka.

Those have always been emotional visits, when Purdue played at Notre Dame regularly, because her siblings are there, but her parents are not. And that will be the same this weekend.

“Whenever I go back home, I think of my mom and dad,” Versyp said. “I’m more emotional about that, that I wish my parents could be around to watch their daughter do what they enjoyed watching her do.

“Everybody comes up and says, ‘Oh, your parents would be so proud. I wish you parents were here.’ That always is a little emotional.”

But Versyp can likely expect a good showing from the Boilermakers, winners of seven of their last eight, who would play the top-seeded Irish in Round 2 if they get by the Phoenix. It was emotional for players on March 6, the day after the loss to Maryland in the Big Ten title game, when Versyp told them the news.

“We were all pretty much distraught,” senior Ashley Morrissette said. “We had a couple people crying. But she explained the extent of it and how it was curable, so I think everybody felt better after that. Obviously, we’re still hoping for the best because she still has to go through surgery (possibly) and that’s always risky, so I think everybody just wants to fight for her and do as well as we possibly can.”