Curtis Kelly sheds some light on Freddy Asprilla's departure

This college basketball season has been anything but boring for the Kansas State Wildcats and the reporters that cover them.

There were the sky-high preseason expectations and the inability of this team to live up to those expectations. The suspensions of Curtis Kelly and Jacob Pullen. Wally Judge's three game hiatus. Its been a roller coaster.

The best part?

This team always seems to give the best quote. Whether its Jamar Samuels using the phrase "leadership thingy", Jacob Pullen declaring that he won't be playing in the NIT, or Frank Martin going, well, all Frank Martin in a press conference, this certainly is a colorful group.

The latest situation that has arisen is Freddy Asprilla's decision to leave the team prior to their game on Saturday against Texas Tech. Here are the statements from Martin and Asprilla's former AAU coach Art Alvarez:

"After discussions with Freddy, we have come to a mutual decision that we feel is in his best interest," Martin said. "I expect him to explore professional playing opportunities in his home country. We appreciate his efforts this season and wish him the best of luck in the future."
...
"Freddy Asprilla is turning pro to help his very ill mother," Alvarez said. "He is sacrificing his collegiate career to make money at the professional level."

That's a good reason to go pro, and we certainly wish Asprilla and his mother the best.

But is it that actually what happened?

"He's a great guy and he was a great player for us, but sometimes guys can't handle Frank," Kelly told Kellis Robbinet of the KC Star. "Guys can't handle the way he demands. He wants the best out of you, 100 percent every time. Even though you may not be able to give it to him every time he still wants you to try. Freddy failed at that unfortunately."

Kelly wasn't done.

"Practice was hell yesterday," Kelly told Austin Meek of the Topeka Capital-Journal. "I think that was just the start-up point, because (Martin) wanted to draw the line and see who was with us and who was not. Whoever stuck it out was going to be with us, and whoever didn't, he wasn't going to depend on no more. As you can see, Freddy's not with us no more."

I don't know what the truth is. Hell, I frankly couldn't care less.

What I do care about is that Martin doesn't start putting the clamps on his player's access to the media.

Because they certainly seem like a fun, honest group of kids.
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News and Notes: Freddy Asprilla, Devin Ebanks, and Nikola Dragovic

A couple news and notes we've come across the last couple of days that we didn't have a chance to get into a post:

• Kansas State's Frank Martin is well on his way to building one of the best front lines in college basketball. He already has UConn transfer Curtis Kelly, blue-chip freshman Wally Judge, and Jamar Samuels (hopefully) returning next season. Now he's added Freddy Asprilla, a 6'10", 280 lb, Colombian native that averaged 14.0 ppg and 9.3 rpg as a freshman at FIU. After FIU refused to release him from his scholarship, Asprilla decided to attend and play at Miami-Dade for a season as he couldn't immediately transfer to another DI school. Asprilla, who originally committed to Miami, is a product of the same AAU program as Denis Clemente and Luis Colon. If the Wildcats somehow manage to get Kelly, Judge, and Samuels back, adding Asprilla to that group could give Martin one of the best front lines in college basketball.


• UCLA forward Nikola Dragovic missed Friday's game against Cal St Bakersfield after finding out the LA district attorney was filing felony charges against him for an incident last month at a concert in LA. Initially, the office had decided not to file charges, but reserved the right to reevaluate the decision for up to a year. He is out on $30,000 bail, but his status for upcoming games is unclear.


• No word yet on whether or not Devin Ebanks will be available next week when West Virginia plays the Citadel and then travels to Anaheim for the 76 Classic. He didn't dress when the Mountaineers played Loyola (MD), and Bob Huggins hasn't provided anything near an explanation or a timeline other than Ebanks is dealing with "personal issues". No confirmation on this, but DraftExpress is reporting that Ebanks tested positive for weed a second time.
  

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