The basketball world as we know it is in danger

Kevin McCarthy
 

It’s an epidemic! A plague of cosmic proportions! An evolving catastrophe! What is the subject of which we type? The truly not so serious subject of Northern California basketball prospects changing their minds after a season or two and deciding to move to another college, generally back in California.

Washington Coach Lorenzo Romar talks with Adrian Oliver

The hue and cry about this topic recently on the NorCalPreps.com message boards was uber-serious. There were handwringing posts featuring these reasons and concerns for the ‘significant’ movement of student/athletes:

• What message was being sent by players leaving the state only to soon return
• Such a message was disturbing in nature
• Northern California kids were failing to match production to the hype
• Northern California players were being lied to in regards to their talents
• Players elsewhere were hungrier than those residing in the upper half of our state
• Players shied away from competing for playing time and wanted court time handed to them
• Players in our area are coddled, spoiled and refuse to play all 94 feet
• College coaches are too often mesmerized by club team play and superior athletic skills

Now are the various posters of these worries also the individuals who decry ‘truth-as-it-is-seen’ when not so superlative terms are used to describe a prepster and his or her skill level and future basketball-playing potential? Probably not but, if so, there’s obviously a major disconnect because too much puffery and an overly negative analysis reside on opposite points of the spectrum.

As with so many topics of discussion, applying a broadbrush analysis is too often employed and actual specifics are needed. So let’s do just that.

After a season of internal team tumult, Wendell McKines decided to cast his lot elsewhere

Kyle Thomas, Eli Holman, Wendell McKines, Adrian Oliver, Decensae White, Dior Lowhorn, Antonio Kellogg, Tim Pierce, Chris Oakes, Josh Akognon, Drew Shiller -- there’s a series of ballers who decided to seek a new address. Most initially went out of state and the majority eventually became Bay Area prodigal sons.

As for Thomas, he returned to California from Loyola after his recruitment as a wing turned into a ‘you’re now our center’ -- anyone want to slam the kid for wanting a change?

Holman departed Indiana and as we all now know he moved on after a coaching change but didn&rsqul;t return home -- so apparently he’s ‘cool’ because he stayed away from the Bay Area according to the ‘guidelines’ offered by the message board posters.

McKines was caught in a tug-of-war between the school athletics director and the head basketball coach at USF. He qualified academically but essentially became a sacrificeable pawn in the human chess game at The Hilltop. New Mexico State and Las Cruces was certainly not initially at the very top of his list of schools but timing played a factor in his signing there. With heralded recruit Herb Pope ahead of him and a season of internal team tumult, McKines decided to cast his lot elsewhere.

Oliver, after injury and an apparent personal family situation, decided to play and school closer to home at San Jose State so he departed from Seattle. Sure, the Western Athletic Conference isn’t the PAC-10, nor do any of the league’s coaches claim it to be but it’s not like the WAC is chock full with multiple versions of the Washington Generals.

White left ‘cosmopolitan’ Lubbock for an education and playing time at Santa Clara. Gee, nobody transfers away from Bob Knight, do they?

Lowhorn did the same as White except his second destination was USF -- hopefully the mutually destructive feud and polarization there is now past. Lowhorn’s numbers last season -- 20.5 ppg. and 7.4 rpg. -- don’t seem to indicate the need to take up a collection for him.

Both players heard the siren call, the lure that is playing for one of the best technicians ever to reside in a coaching box and a Hall of Fame coach. You want to bash the brothers for that?

Kellogg was enticed by an offer from perennial national contender Connecticut -- yes, we know, how silly was that? -- but when Assistant Coach Clyde Vaughan (Kellogg’s primary relationship on the coaching staff) departed Storrs, so eventually did Kellogg. Yet who could blame the kid for aiming high even though his initial school decision was probably doomed to failure for multiple reasons from the get-go. Alas, USF didn’t work for Kellogg either. It’s no loss for you or me, just sadly for Kellogg.

Pierce chose the PAC-10 with Arizona State but it was a program in a coaching and roster flux. He then attended Reedley Community College for a non-playing year before arriving at San Jose State. Pierce has twice led the Spartans in three-pointers made on the season and averaged 11.2 ppg. this past year, second on the team.

Oakes was fine at Pepperdine as a frosh but after a coaching change and the institution of a system that relegates posts to the junkyard, he returned up north to San Jose State where he was a starter last season and averaged 10.2 ppg. and a team leading 7.2 rpg. One guesses he should be wearing sackcloth and ashes for such a travesty.

Akognon was lured to Pullman and the PAC-10 out of high school but after two years transferred to CSU Fullerton. He led the Cougars in scoring with 10.3 ppg. just prior to his transfer and nearly doubled that total to 20.2 this past season for the Titans. Akognon has tossed into name into the NBA draft pool at this point -- he has a senior year of eligibility remaining at Fullerton -- so it remains to be seen if he will sign with an agent or return to school. Hopefully, falling so flat on his face after his transfer from league-on-high status won’t require surgery.

Shiller made the inexpicable decision to go with USF out of high school but soon realized the mismatch and it turned out quite nicely as he then became scholarshipped at Stanford. This past season, he played in 28 games, in just under 10 minutes a contest and averaged 3.3 ppg. Yeah, what a bum as his future is surely shot.

Okay, enough sarcasm. Yes, some mistakes were made. Some unforseeable situations evolved. It’s all part of everyday life. End of story.

From a previous post at NorCalPreps.com, here’s Chase Curtiss who eventually decided to cast his athletics and educational lot with Division III University of Puget Sound: "Everyone loves recognition and flattery, this is what college recruiters do. They are expert swooners, it’s what they get paid to do. It is a hard lesson for most kids to learn that basketball is not a profession for the vast majority; it is a means to an education. It is important to weigh everything and define what is important to you. That might be playing at an ACC school or a Pac-10 school. We shouldn’t tell a high school kid what is important, they will figure it out. There is nothing wrong with going to a Pac-10 school, realizing it wasn’t what you thought and transferring to a D-2 or D-3 school where you can get a great education. That’s what life is all about. . .finding your niche. I was lucky and found mine on the first shot. But if a player’s dream is to play at USC, let him figure out that it is not all that he imagines. There’s nothing worse than looking back and saying I wish I had done something... better to do it and fail and then find your path. There is nothing wrong with transferring because you were unhappy with a situation. The problem comes when they make the same mistake in their second choice. This is where parents need to step in and provide the counseling that maybe a great education is the best place to start when looking for a new school."

Hey, the kids are all right.