Ivan Bender has spent the past seven months at the University of Maryland quietly trying to restart a basketball career that was interrupted twice in the last two years — each time after the 6-9, 230-pound forward tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
Three months after being cleared by team doctors to resume workouts and eventually being given the go-ahead to play in the team's summer pickup games and NCAA-approved practices, Bender will face outside competition for the first time in two years when he joins a group of college players from other schools for a five-game tour in Croatia.