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2/22/2023 7:40 am  #1


Success At Another School

I was thinking about this watching Tyler Kolek last night for Marquette and how glad I am he decided to transfer away from Mason, but curious how you'd all feel about seeing a former player have big success at a school that's not GW, specifically transferring up a level?  Are you rooting for them 100% or more thinking what could've been had they stayed?

The most recent example for us is obviously Battle who is still doing Battle things at Minnesota but he's on a team that is exactly 1 spot higher than GW in KenPom.  Another example I can think of is Collin Smith. I was initially upset he decided to transfer but given all that transpired I understood the decision and ended up rooting hard for him and UCF in the tournament a few years back.  Bamisile sort of could've been like Kolek but 1. He doesn't really play and 2. he wasn't our recruit initially.


 

 

2/22/2023 8:27 am  #2


Re: Success At Another School

Didn´t someone transfer from GW and go on to win a National Title (at KU, maybe?). Although limited by injuries, Kethan Savage did well all things considered at Butler. While not a "step up", Marquin Chandler remains a legendary figure at San Jose St. No ill-will towards any of them.

 

2/22/2023 9:15 am  #3


Re: Success At Another School

I root for all former GW players 100%. The closest I get to not rooting for them is if they transfer in-conference and even then I'd probably root for them unless they are playing us. It sucked when Bray left but given the coaching change it was hard to get too mad.

In the case of Jamison and Collin I couldn't get too angry that both decided to transfer to be closer to home. It would have been interesting to see either play on better GW teams though. At least with Battle I think he achieved as much as he could've before transferring and he wasn't a JC player anyways.

Smith had real potential - it hurt a bit that he got more consistent playing time at UCF and shined. It was hard for me to forgive Mojo for starting him to begin the year only to give him inconsistent PT down the stretch of the season. I believe he's playing in Australia now - if I remember correctly he left the team for a year to focus on his health before returning to North Carolina A&T. It's unfortunate that he never truly hit his ceiling.

I was okay with Joe moving on - whether his reasoning for leaving was true or not (something about being in the city affecting his mental health). He's a very easy player to root for but I thought he was a bit too loose on the court if that makes any sense. Rather than think about what could've been had he stayed I think about what could've been had he chosen a better destination. Oklahoma was one of the last places I would have chosen for him based on how he plays. Even Oklahoma State would have made more sense.

The players I think about what could've been are actually ones that transferred down:

- Jameer Nelson Jr.: he's averaging 20 ppg at Delaware this year. That number would have likely not been as high had he stayed at GW but he was completely mishandled in year 2 when JB came in. Is he a great shooter? No, but I think he could have had real success under CC. He was one of the better on-ball defenders we've had in the recent past.

- Mezie Offurum: I think he needed a reset after consistently overthinking at GW but his potential was evident even when he was here, scoring in double figures in his first collegiate game. Offurum has improved every year of college - he averages 11 ppg and is shooting 60% from the field this year at James Madison. That's not a typo, and it's on over 6 attempts a game (he's also 35% from 3).

- Tyler Brelsford: At least he's finally starting at Bryant. He's not a big-time scorer even there as the Bulldogs have quite a bit of talent but I thought he was the perfect rotation guy coming off the bench. Definitely better than anything we have right now. Shooting 38% from 3 and 89% from the line.

- Shawn Walker Jr: Averaging 9 ppg at Mercer while again shooting 38% from 3. He needed to get a bit stronger but again I could see potential when he was playing. I think he found the right level but he definitely would have helped the bench playing 20 mpg.

- Jordan Roland: was leading the nation in scoring at Northeastern at one point a couple years back. The only thing holding him back at GW was the fact that there were a lot of longer-tenured players that were above him on the depth chart. He may not have ever averaged 22 ppg at GW but he was certainly on track to earn more minutes and average double figure scoring his junior year.
 

 

2/22/2023 9:49 am  #4


Re: Success At Another School

Love the question GW0509.  The general answer is that I will usually find myself rooting hard for former GW players.  That said, it will always boil down to circumstances.  By and large, it's hard to fault anyone who transfers because the coaching staff who recruited the player has moved on.  Bray comes close because he transferred to another A10 school.  Nevertheless, Jamion had a relationship with Bray dating back to middle school.  He obviously felt hurt and deceived by GW's decision.  Plus, he had (though squandered) an opportunity to be coached by Archie Miller who had a great track record working with point guards.  Similarly, guys who'd like to play closer to home, or not within a big city, shouldn't be faulted.

The two examples of guys I did not root for were:

1. Montrell McDonald..My sense was that Montrell overvalued his own talent despite possessing tremendous defensive instincts, and showed way too much disrespect towards KH and his staff.  The team was enjoying some success but he seemed willing to ignore this. He left the sport for two years, joined Arkansas, and left that program after one semester having played in just 4 games.  Hope he's doing well today but he made it very hard to root for him during his short stay as a Razorback.

2.  Kethan Savage.  There appeared to be a number of disingenuous pieces to this puzzle.  He began his GW career playing behind Lasan Kromah and then Mo Creek.  No shame in any of this, and even managed to post his college career high in scoring while a sophomore playing with Creek.  Once Mo left, Kethan's minutes went up but his productivity went down.  His assists, steals, scoring average, and shooting percentage all went down despite playing 4 1/2 minutes more per game.  (The shooting in particular went from 51.8% as a sophomore to 40.1% as a junior.)  Despite the rest of the Core 4 returning for their senior seasons and the addition of NBA players like Tyler and Yuta joining them, Kethan decided to transfer citing a need to play point guard.  He did not appear to play the point very much at Butler, and missed out on the NIT Championship season which would undoubtedly would have been a trip to the dance had he stayed.  We're all entitled to our opinions but this struck me as an example of very transparently putting himself first in front of a very talented team.  I was not interested in rooting for his success thereafter.
 

 

2/22/2023 10:04 am  #5


Re: Success At Another School

GW Alum Abroad wrote:

Didn´t someone transfer from GW and go on to win a National Title (at KU, maybe?). Although limited by injuries, Kethan Savage did well all things considered at Butler. While not a "step up", Marquin Chandler remains a legendary figure at San Jose St. No ill-will towards any of them.

Lasan Kromah transferred to UConn and was a part of their 2014 title team

 

2/22/2023 12:12 pm  #6


Re: Success At Another School

dmvpiranha wrote:

 I was okay with Joe moving on - whether his reasoning for leaving was true or not (something about being in the city affecting his mental health). He's a very easy player to root for but I thought he was a bit too loose on the court if that makes any sense. Rather than think about what could've been had he stayed I think about what could've been had he chosen a better destination. Oklahoma was one of the last places I would have chosen for him based on how he plays. Even Oklahoma State would have made more sense.

If I had to put a number on it I'd say he left 75% because JC was fired and 25% for other reasons. I think the one quote about him not liking living in a city and it affecting his mental health has been a tad overblown. If JC was the coach again this season I think he'd still be on the roster. Agreed on what dmvpiranha has said about his choice of Oklahoma but I'm glad to see him playing a bit more recently.

As for the question, I will root for former GW players as long as they left the school on good terms and I enjoyed watching them at GW (Joe, Bray and Jamison all fall into that category).

 

2/22/2023 2:18 pm  #7


Re: Success At Another School

Marfo was top 3 in the nation rebounding at Quinnipiac at one point in his post-GW career, a much touted ML recruit who fizzled here. Mezie's at his third school now and though I like his game it does look better at a low-major level. Battle is an easy kid to root for and could be named 1st team all B-10.

Last edited by Mentzinger (2/22/2023 3:13 pm)

 

2/22/2023 3:11 pm  #8


Re: Success At Another School

GW Alum Abroad wrote:

Didn´t someone transfer from GW and go on to win a National Title (at KU, maybe?).

Joe Dooley has won two national titles with Kansas, IIRC. 

 

2/22/2023 3:35 pm  #9


Re: Success At Another School

The transfer who went on to win the National Title after leaving GW was Lasan Kromah.

6th man playing starter minutes on the team that beat Kentucky to win the 2014 National Title.

 

 

2/22/2023 4:03 pm  #10


Re: Success At Another School

Thanks. I was merging Kromah and Dooley in to a single person. Your memory starts to go when you get to my age.

 

2/23/2023 6:31 am  #11


Re: Success At Another School

didn’t bernard woodside win with lsu?

 

2/23/2023 1:59 pm  #12


Re: Success At Another School

lowpost wrote:

didn’t bernard woodside win with lsu?

Final Four, 1986.
https://lsusports.net/news/2011/01/20/205079501/

 

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