When Shea Ralph crumpled to the Gampel Pavilion floor Tuesday night, grabbing her left knee in agony, the silence in the gym was one of sadness, not shock.

Ralph has pushed her body to the breaking point for years now. She wasn't supposed to come back from one ACL tear, let alone two. But UConn's inspiring All-America rehabbed so fiercely that doctors and coaches feared for her health. She should have slowed down. But Shea Ralph has only one speed: fastest.

I worked out with Ralph over the summer near Cape Canaveral, where her mother, Marsha Lake, lives. The 2000 Final Four MVP spent her entire three-month break in the weight room, even though her coaches warned her trainers to keep an eye on her. After a grueling hour-and-a-half of squats and leg presses and jumps and wall-sits, Ralph walked over to the clean-and-jerk platform.

She hoisted the bar with an enormous grunt. Her head trembled and her thighs quaked as she pushed nearly 100 pounds up over her head, simultaneously thrusting her left leg forward to support herself. After several reps, I asked her why she always leaned onto her left leg during the jerk. She told me it was because of the two right ACL tears. I wondered in silence how much overcompensation that left leg could take.

Last night, after winning yet another Big East championship, Huskies coach Geno Auriemma nearly wept over Ralph's latest injury. "We hope for the best," he said. "But we expect the worst." Part of me hopes Shea Ralph decides that enough is enough and calls it a career. Part of me hopes she finally puts long-term recovery ahead of short-term WNBA glory.

But I don't think she knows how.

Eric Adelson covers women's college basketball for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at eric.adelson@espnmag.com.