Donnie Jones took over as the head coach at Central Florida in March of 2010, and since his arrival, he's brought a steady stream of talent into Orlando.
Tristan Spurlock, Josh Crittle, and Jeffery Jordan decided to transfer to UCF from Virginia, Oregon, and Illinois, respectively. He's brought in a very good recruiting class, consisting of Michael Chandler (a four star recruit and one of the best centers in the country), Wayne Martin, Rod Days, and Kasey Wilson. Jones also currently has Kevin Ware committed, although no one seems to know the details of that wacky recruitment.
The problem with bringing in eight players as talented as these eight are is that they make up more than 60% of the 13 scholarships college basketball programs are permitted to use. How did Jones solve this problem? By running off sophomore Dave Diakite, freshman Jarvis Davis, and junior Isaac Sosa.
Arizona finds themselves in a similarly difficult position.
Sean Miller has, for the third straight season, brought a terrific recruiting class to Tucson. Its headlined by five-star point guard Josiah Turner, but Nick Johnson, Angelo Chol, and Sidiki Johnson are all four star recruits that should be able to impact the program immediately. Arizona, who had a scholarship docked for Lute Olson's Cactus Classic shenanigans, had 12 players on scholarship this season and have four recruits coming in this summer. Jamelle Horne graduates and Derrick Williams is headed to the NBA, but that still put Sean Miller's program at 14 players.
In other words, Miller has to trim two kids he had promised a scholarship too. Daniel Bejarano was the first to go, a 6'4" shooting guard that was a top 50 recruit nationally. Next? Who knows. The Arizona Daily Star speculates that junior center Alex Jacobsen, who graduates at the end of the semester and can transfer for grad school without having to sit out a season, and sophomore center Kryrl Natyazhko, who has opportunities to play professionally overseas, could be next on the chopping block.
This is not a new phenomenon. John Calipari made headlines when he took the Kentucky job for essentially forcing the transfer of seven players left over from the Billy Gillispie era. Steve Alford looked bad when Will Brown pleaded -- via a hand-written note sent to the papers -- to stay at New Mexico. Mike Anderson gave two players the boot to make room for some JuCo transfers last season. Buzz Williams trimmed DJ Newbill's scholarship when he had the chance to bring in a former top 50 transfer last summer.
At face value, this seems like a sleazy practice.
Me?
I don't necessarily think its bad. Essentially, Dave Diakite, Jarvis Davis, Isaac Sosa, and Daniel Bejarano have been cut.
It happens at every level of every sport. Once you get passed playing CYO ball and being coached by your parents, once you get past your hometown rec leagues, sports get competitive. If you aren't good enough, you won't make the team. If you don't fit the mold for what a coach is looking for, you won't make the team. I feel for the kids that have their dreams destroyed, I do. I've been in their shoes. Its quite unpleasant.
But they still have options. All four of the players listed above have enough eligibility left that they can transfer to another school and finish out their playing career at a level that is better suited to their ability. Or, if they don't want to leave the friends they've made at their current school, they can walk-on to the team and pay their own way for college in an effort to earn a scholarship for the following season.
It sucks. But so does getting cut from your high school team, getting laid off from your job, or seeing that hot shot young assistant get the promotion you've had your eye on for the last four years.
College basketball is a cutthroat business. The immediacy of a fan-base's need to win and the "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately" mindset of most sports fans puts a ton of pressure on head coaches. If they don't win and win now, they will end up out of a job, forcing their coaching staff to also have to find new work. As a result, these coaches are forced to do things that leave us squirming, that morally leaves a bad taste in our mouths.
But hey, that is the price of winning. That's what we as fans demand, right? We've made our bed, now we have to sleep in it.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Central Florida and Arizona forced to run-off players: is this really a bad thing? |
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3 comments:
It happens at every level of every sport.
At what other level of sport does being cut from a team mean being stripped of financial resources to pay for your college education? Have you been in those shoes?
Or, if they don't want to leave the friends they've made at their current school, they can walk-on to the team and pay their own way for college in an effort to earn a scholarship for the following season.
College tuition money doesn't grow on trees.
The reality is that these coaches are severely disrupting the lives of these kids. Booting 20 year-old kids out of their educational and social environment (or else, asking their parents to pony up thousands of dollars to keep them there) just because you misjudged their talent level or found what you think is a more talented player to replace them -- all in the name of satisfying sports fans' vicarious rooting interests -- is shameful and sad.
Now maybe it's possible that these students and their parents were told, either by the current or former coach, that there was a realistic possibility that they would have their scholarship yanked if the coach found someone who was more talented. But somehow I doubt that was part of the recruiting pitch.
Also ...
But hey, that is the price of winning. That's what we as fans demand, right? We've made our bed, now we have to sleep in it.
What?
We've made the bed, yes, but we're obviously not the ones who are sleeping in it.
Will Brown gave coach Alford plenty of reasons to be dismissed from the team. Why don't you check out the info with the coach.
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