( photo : jamie rhodes , usa today sports ) story highlights kevin ware had successful surgery sunday night ware had his bone re - set , a rod inserted and his wound closed ware hopes to rejoin his team in atlanta to support them in the final four louisville basketball player kevin ware underwent successful surgery sunday night to repair the gruesome open fracture of his right tibia he suffered during the cardinals ' 85 - 63 win over duke in the midwest regional final , and he is expected to remain in indianapolis until at least tuesday , louisville announced .
on friday , michigan and star guard trey burke completed an epic comeback over kansas .
louisville 's chane behanan , foreground , and wayne blackshear ( 20 ) react to guard kevin ware 's injury during the first half of the midwest regional final against duke in the ncaa college basketball tournament , ... ( associated press ) trainers check on louisville guard kevin ware ( 5 ) after an injury during the first half of the midwest regional final against duke in the ncaa college basketball tournament , sunday , march 31 , 2013 , in ... ( associated press ) louisville 's wayne blackshear ( 20 ) and chane behanan ( 21 ) react to kevin ware 's injury during the first half of the midwest regional final in the ncaa college basketball tournament , sunday , march 31 , ... ( associated press ) " the bone 's 6 inches ( 152 millimeters ) out of his leg , and all he 's yelling is , ` win the game , win the game , ' " said louisville coach rick pitino , who wiped away tears sunday as national television quickly backed away from showing replays of kevin ware 's nasty close skip in skip x embed x share rick pitino said louisville would n't have been able to move forward from kevin ware 's leg injury had ware not told his team 12 times that he would be fine and pushed them to beat duke .
 
 
in many ways , it had been an exemplary few days for the ncaa and its signature basketball tournament — a weekend that put the madness back in march .
vpc luke hancock , right , comforts teammate kevin ware after ware 's injury sunday .
on saturday , cinderella team wichita state crashed the final four .
and evoking memories of a similar , career - ending injury to the nfl 's joe theismann , ware snapped his leg in two places , with his