Alex Farrer had done his time and paid his dues.Farrer, a senior on the 2009-10 basketball team, was heading into his fifth year in Baton Rouge as a projected starter on a depleted roster. He was supposed to be a leader on the young team along with fellow senior Tasmin Mitchell.Just two weeks before the season started, fate intruded.In a preseason scrimmage against Houston, Farrer dislocated his left kneecap, sidelining him just days before his senior campaign had begun. His season and career were essentially over.”It’s really disappointing for him as well as us,” said Pam Farrer, Alex’s mother. “It was his last year and he couldn’t redshirt again because of freshman year. He was pretty down.”It didn’t stop him, though. Farrer rehabbed day after day, hour after hour for the entire season. He made it back on the floor for Senior Night.He only played four minutes in LSU’s 50-48 victory against Arkansas. LSU coach Trent Johnson said after the game the “last thing I want to do is see Alex Farrer being carried off the floor as a senior.”Farrer said he could have played a few games earlier, but he was more grateful for the chance to see the floor.”I felt great,” Farrer said. “Could I have played in the last couple of games? Sure. That’s just not my decision, and Coach Johnson is in a position where he doesn’t want to see me hurt any longer or any worse. That’s his choice. I’ll respect that. I would have loved to play more. Who wouldn’t? As far as coming back and getting to play in front of my parents on senior night, it was definitely a nice gesture by Coach Johnson. It kind of put an end to things, I guess you could say.”It looks as if Farrer’s playing days are indeed over. He now only needs to finish the spring and summer semesters to graduate with a master’s degree in sports management to pair with his undergraduate degree in business. He currently holds an internship working in Alex Box Stadium on gamedays.Farrer said optimal jobs would be either a sports marketer or a financial adviser, but nothing is certain.”There’s no set of goals, but there’s different things I want to do, a different type of people I want to meet,” Farrer said. “I want to see what else is out there besides basketball. I’m not saying I won’t cherish my memories and the relationships I made in basketball. I’ll always love basketball. There’s just other things I’m excited about.”Before he can start on his new career path, Farrer will have a more heavy-duty reconstructive knee procedure to fully repair his dislocated kneecap. The surgery he underwent prior to the season was a sort of “quick-fix,” in hopes of getting him back on the court at some point during the season.The upcoming surgery will relieve Farrer of his walking ability for six weeks, and his knee will not be fully healed for six to nine months.Farrer seems resigned to the end of his playing career. While he fully expects to get the itch to play again, the furthest extent of his future involvement in basketball will most likely be in coaching.”Obviously, I love basketball and even if I wasn’t on scholarship, I would still play basketball,” Farrer said. “I love it. Even if all the benefits went away, I would still play   basketball. But the fact kind of remains that it’s kind of over. I had a good time, and down the road coaching might be a possibility. I might try my hand in the business world, but coaching is probably the only realistic thing as far as basketball goes.”Basketball or business, Farrer fully believes this experience will be beneficial to him in the future.”It’s just a little bit of adversity that I overcame, and you make it what it’s worth,” Farrer said.—-Chris Branch at [email protected]