April 8, 2014

Shaquille Cleare Maryland

The offseason in college basketball should be re-dubbed ‘Transfer Season’. It’s become an annual event where waves of players decide to switch schools, something that used to rarely occur and is almost certainly a symptom of two major factors: AAU and the NLI that players have to sign once they commit. The latest players to announce their intentions to transfer sent shockwaves into the Maryland Terrapins, with freshman Roddy Peters, sophomore Shaquille Clear and junior Nick Faust announcing that they had requested and been released from UM:

Peters, a 6-foot-3 guard from District Heights who averaged 4.1 points and 2.1 assists while playing 15.1 minutes per game, departs after one uneven season at Maryland. Playing an unexpectedly large role with sophomore Seth Allen sidelined by injury for the first 12 games, he started often and averaged more than 20 minutes per game. But he struggled in the second half, playing more than 15 minutes once and making eight of 33 shots during the final 15 games.

Head coach Mark Turgeon has confirmed the transfers.

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TJ Warren NC State NBA draft

By Marcus Shockley

Well, it’s official. T.J. Warren has declared for the NBA draft:

North Carolina State University sophomore forward T.J. Warren announced Tuesday that he will forgo his remaining college eligibility and enter the 2014 NBA Draft.

Warren, the ACC Player of the Year in 2013-14, averaged 24.9 points per game and shot 52.5 percent for the Wolfpack. He set school records for points in a single season (871) and games with 20 or more points in a season (31).

I remember watching T.J. as a high school junior and thinking that teams were sleeping on him and that his scoring ability reminded me a lot of Paul Pierce. By the time TJ was a senior, he’d gathered offers from several major schools, and decided on NC State. Just a few days before he announced his decision, he talked to me in this video interview about his current thinking.

T.J. will be a solid pro player. Scouts and coaches have been doubting his ability since he was in high school, but his ability to score has been proven repeatedly. The one nagging thing that he’ll have to work on at this point is his foul trouble. But that will come, in time.

Best of luck to T.J. at the pro level.

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John Calipari Lakers

Rex Chapman has never been a quiet guy. When he played, he was a flambouyant dunkaholic both as a Kentucky Wildcat and in the NBA. He hasn’t shied away from controversy in retirement, and just before tip-off in the NCAA national title game, he lit a fuse:

So reaction from the Big Blue Nation has been mixed, if not meteoric…some giving Rex a big ‘ho hum’ reaction, while others accepting his declaration as pure fact. One thing is for sure, Chapman has laid out a scenario where he will either be considered completely credible if Calipari does jump to L.A. and be considered a flake if it doesn’t happen.

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