Update: ACC Now has a couple of good pieces up. Caulton Tudor says this might hurt UNC down the line which is a good point. As much as we all like to think UNC should have 13 five star players on the roster, you can't and players like the Wears would have been solid contributors and pieces to the puzzle for UNC as juniors and seniors.
Secondly, Robbi Pickeral talked to Scout.com's Dave Telep who said Roy should consider calling 2010 PF Kadeem Jack who is ranked 43rd overall in the final Scout.com rankings. Jack is 6-8, 190 lbs and has offers from Arizona, UConn, Florida, Arkansas and Miami. The word is Jack might go to prep school to develop more. Jack is still developing but according to his profile, he is explosive, runs the floor well and can rebound. On the negative side Jack needs to work on his offense.
Adam Gold offers his take and suggest bubble wrap for Zeller.
Finally, the UNC players had a little fun with the Wears' transfers which I personally think did not cast them in the best light. Yeah, I know they are just kids but herein lies the danger with Twitter and tossing crap out you probably would say if you were just hanging out together. Deon Thompson shut it down by saying "yall need to chill on that ish man..." If you don't know what "ish" is then toss a "t" into the mix and rearrange the letters.
Original post after the jump.
That will wake you up.
According to the Long Beach Press-Telegram, David and Travis Wear have asked for a release so they can transfer from UNC.
Freshman basketball forwards David and Travis Wear - McDonald's All-Americas and Best in the West selections as seniors at Mater Dei High - will not be returning to the University of North Carolina, their father told the Press-Telegram tonight.
Dave Wear said he discussed the decision with Tar Heels' coach Roy Williams earlier in the evening by telephone and that he hoped that his sons would be released from their scholarship agreements with the school ``as early as Thursday".
Wear wouldn't offer any details as to why the players (who took their last spring semester finals today) were making the move other than to say ``they decided they didn't want to return to North Carolina.
Based on Twitter traffic from the players, this is a complete shock to them. Kendall Marshall asked "What da hell is goin on?!" Ed Davis and John Henson called it unreal. Henson then turned an eye to the future:
its all good though, because now roy got room to bring a couple more thoroughbreds to the stable.
Larry Drew tossed in a rather humorous quip: "#gotTwins?"
My reaction is I hate to see any player leave UNC. I was not as down on the Wears as many of you were and figured at the very least they give you 10 minutes per game to augment team depth. Now that leaves you with Tyler Zeller and John Henson at the two frontcourt slots. It also means you will see plenty of Will Graves at the four and possibly some Harrison Barnes. Adam Gold with 99.9 The Fan thinks it will not hurt as much as people think:
blessing in disguise. Only issue is the inevitable injury to Tyler Zeller.
smaller team won't hurt them. Barnes, graves, Henson and zeller is enough. A lot of size will bother them, but who has it?
I would say that a physical team will hurt them but that was going to be the case anyway. Since the team will indeed be smaller and we know Zeller can run the floor there is only one thing to do here. Run, baby! Jacking up the tempo can negate any advantage physical teams might have and UNC has the horses to run with the three freshman along with the remaining team. The main question is whether Larry Drew and Kendall Marshall can cut down on the turnovers. If they can do that, UNC will be fine providing Zeller stays healthy. If not then it will get really dicey.
Two other salient points on this:
1. John Henson is correct. Roy Williams now has scholarship flexibility going forward. UNC was in the hole with the offer to Austin Rivers now they have on in the pocket for 2011. UNC still has a few more irons in the fire for 2011 which they have not moved much due to the lack of scholarships. Among the big men available in 2011 are Marshall Plumlee and Cody Zeller. Roy could also hold onto the scholarship and look to 2012 to build a solid class there.
2. The Wears were Roy's fifth and sixth recruits from the state of California. As C.Michael pointed out on email three of the six have now transferred back home after 1-2 seasons. The other three were Quentin Thomas, Deon Thompson and Larry Drew. Drew and Thomas both were possible transfers at some point in their careers. Deon Thompson is the only one who came and stayed four years without a peep of dissatisfaction. Being a three year starter probably had something to do with that. Roy's penchant for going after CA kids goes back to his Kansas days when it was natural to recruit in almost any direction since Lawrence was in the middle of the freaking country. It is carried over to UNC which is fine but with a 50% transfer rate among native Californian recruits(which could have easily been 5 of 6) it might be time to evaluate whether or not using scholarships on anyone but elite players from the West coast is worth it. Three thousand miles is a long way from home for someone to be a role player or see limited time on the court. That is why people were shocked Thomas hung around all four years(and boy are we glad he did.) In the future I would not be shocked to see Roy only go after top flight players from the other side of the country(like Marvin Williams) Those types of players will play more and also leave early for the NBA negating a desire to transfer.
More on this when UNC makes it official.