citay said:
thought it might be fun to put together a starting lineup of scholarship players recruited by tinkle who would have been playing this year but for whatever reasons are no longer in the program:
center: andy martin 7' junior
power forward billy reader 6'9" senior
small forward jake wiley 6'7" junior
shooting guard kevin henderson 6'5" senior
point guard keron deshields 6'2" senior
sixth man nick emerson 6'5" junior
let's assume that on average, you recruit three to four new players a year. that means that over a four year period, you bring in 14 new players. and during this four year period, six of them are no longer in the program. that seems like a high number to me, and indicative of a lot of turmoil in a program.
of these players, decuire was only involved with one, andy martin. neither of his recruits to date, michael oguine or jared samuelson, has yet stepped on a court for the griz. it's simply the rule in college athletics: a new coach must have the time to bring in his own players.
I really would not go as far as a lot of turmoil. A few of these guys did not work out for their own reasons. Tinkle gave them a chance, and they fell short in certain areas.
Billy Reader did himself in with by not applying himself in the class room, and very little dedication to the team.
Jake Wiley is puzzling. I think Jake lost patience with the growing process, thought he should have played more minutes as a true FR. Wayne felt differently. Jake's time would have came last season, but no he sold himself and his teammates short by deciding not to play. Hard to put that on Wayne.
Kevin Henderson is a talent the GRIZ really miss. A lot of what went on behind the scenes there never became public knowledge. He earned his way off the team with a lot of minor incidents including a problem with consistent tardiness, and some questionable off the court decisions. Hard to blame Wayne for drawing a line with him. Kevin had plenty of chances to figure things out, and never did. Again, this is on the player.
Keron had some minor off the court issues, nothing alarming or real bad, he was a team player and solid person from what I heard. I honestly feel his departure was nothing more than circumstances with family beyond his control. Wayne supported Keron and was Keron's father figure during some tough times. Wayne and Keron's teammates were terrific to him. They were Keron's family. They were the reason why it was such a hard decision for Keron to make. Keron had a decision to make that he did not want to make, but had to make. Keron and Wayne had nothing but good things to say of one another when his decision finally was made public.
Emerson was a young player, unfortunately caught up in the number's game. His departure was an ordinary circumstance. Plain and simple, he wanted to be in a program with significant playing time. He got that where he is at now. With the number or perimeter players the GRIZ have, I can see why he felt transferring would be the best option.
In my opinion the most turmoil was with Reader. It is unfortunate too. The kid wasted his God given basketball talent because his attitude stunk. Reader could have been an all time great post player here. He had multiple time 1st team all conference potential. He just refused to work toward making himself better.
As for Martin, I've heard both sides of the story to some extent. Personally, I think highly of Andy and his family. To me, the situation could have been handled better by the U of M. That is not me blaming Travis. I just feel Travis and Andy were both caught in a middle of a rock and hard place. I feel the best outcome would have been to give Andy the opportunity to make or break himself this season. If he came through, then everyone would have been happy. If he fell short, then help Andy find another program and school he'd be a better fit at. Then again, academically, Andy is a kick ass student, so he might be perfectly happy as a student only without the pressures of basketball. I do miss him being on the team though.
