Phil Pressey finally speaks about his rumored transfer

Once rumors started swirling about Mike Anderson leaving Missouri for the head coaching job with Arkansas, speculation grew that Phil Pressey -- the freshman point guard for Mizzou who also happened to be the son of Anderson's former college roommate -- would be following him out the door.

But here we are in July, a good three months after Anderson made his decision to head to Fayetteville, and Pressey is still in Columbia. He finally spoke about the rumors with the Columbia Tribune:

He said the prospect of having to sit out a year before he could play at another school was probably enough to dissuade him from seeking a transfer. In addition, he felt a strong connection to his teammates, especially his older brother, Matt Pressey, and Ricardo Ratliffe, who chose Missouri in part because of the opportunity to play with him.

Pressey has also liked what he's seen of Haith and has developed a bond with the Tigers' new coach.

"He told me from Day 1 that he’s a guard coach and he’s going to put a lot of faith in me," Pressey said. "I like that in a coach, that they take time to get to know me and figure out what I like to do and how I like to play other than a coach just coming in and telling me what they’re going to do. ... I talk to him pretty much every other day or every day, so I’m building a connection. I like that."

We always talk about players at the collegiate level like they are robots. They choose schools based on who the head coach is, and they should be allowed to transfer out of that program is the head coach they signed with leaves. That's the argument isn't it?

What we sometimes forget is that these kids are, well, still kids. At the end of the day, Phil Pressey wanted to play with his friends. He wanted to spend one more season on the same team as his brother. And once he found out that he could tolerate what Frank Haith had planned, he decided to stick it out with the Tigers.

Its almost refreshing to hear.