O’Bannon Cleared for Some Drills

Ed O’Bannon has been cleared to begin limited practice with the UCLA basketball team, the school announced Wednesday night.

On Monday, team physician Gerald Finerman said that excessive swelling in O’Bannon’s surgically repaired left knee would keep him out of practice for two weeks and that the knee might require additional surgery. He said O’Bannon could possibly miss the season.

But a statement released by UCLA after the second day of practice Wednesday indicated that Finerman had found some reduction in the swelling of O’Bannon’s left knee and that the second-year freshman would be allowed to participate in a limited amount of non-contact practice.

A UCLA spokesman said that O’Bannon would probably be limited to running and jumping drills that would not put him in contact with his teammates.

“We are going to take it very slow and be careful not to ask Ed to do too much too soon,” Coach Jim Harrick said in a statement.