I am guessing they wanted to see how "Lost" and "24" turned out before making it official.
We can officially close the book on David and Travis Wear who will get to eat homemade macaroni and cheese while being role contributors in Ben Howland's "offense."
Here's the deal. I have built this entire blog on the idea that you can be a fan but at the same time take a level headed, respectful approach to the team, coaches and players. That was put to the test this season when the default mode was to rip anyone wearing a Tar Heel uniform. In situations like a player transferring the standard operating procedure around here would be to wish them well, respect their decision and move on. And I have tried to take that tact but this whole business, especially the way Papa Wear orchestrated it, has me a little pissed. The way the entire process was handled struck me as extremely disrespectful to Roy Williams and UNC basketball in general. Now, being a father, I know that the decisions you make for your kids are often made with little for other people. If you are halfway decent, you make every effort to take the feelings of others into account but ultimately you are going to act in the best interests of your children, screw the consequences.
Certainly that could be the case here but it is one thing for me to do that when my children young, it is quite another to do that and be their spokesperson to the world when they are nineteen freaking years old. It seems like it has less to do with David or Travis and more to do with Papa Wear and their mother. Perhaps I am wrong since I cannot crawl inside either of their heads and poke around. However when you get statements from mother, Gloria Wear, like this:
They love UCLA," the twins' mother, Gloria Wear, told ESPN.com's Diamond Leung. "Great school, great coach, great program. Why would they want to leave home?"
Or from Papa Wear:
And it was going to be somewhere on the west coast," he said. "The boys and their mother (Gloria Wear) had no intention of going outside of this time zone.
It is difficult not to draw the conclusion where the decision ultimately was made at. I mean, seriously Mrs. Wear, if they thought UCLA was all that and a bag of chips, why in the name of John Wooden did they ever leave? It sure would have saved everyone a ton of trouble had they figured that out from day one.
At the end of the day I think that is where my gripe lies. There is this impression that coming to UNC was some huge mistake. Fine, it apparently was and it is not huge news that high school kids sometimes make poor decisions about their future. What I am having the most trouble with is the feel in the comments from the family that UNC is somehow inferior to the situation at UCLA or this idea that UCLA was where they really wanted to be but they ended up wasting a year in Chapel Hill which they are no longer interesting in talking about. On top of that it now seems as though the manner in which their release was obtained reeked of cowardice on their part. When I was 20 years old and I made the decision following my junior season to not run cross country the next year, I went to the head coach and informed him myself. What's more my father and mother did not make that decision, I did. The only thing daddy wanted to know was if the grant-in-aid applied to the 2nd semester otherwise he would need to come up with some extra funding. So I find it utterly amazing these two hid while their father talked to their head coach. I guess when you have played charades with your coach over the past month by discussing your development for next season with him all while considering a transfer it might be tough to look him in the eye ever again.
Yeah, I know. This is all coming off like some jilted lover. Then again some jilted lovers are perfectly justified to feel jilted and tell the world about it. I guess my rather meandering point here is while I would love to show these guys respect for having worn the Tar Heel uniform for one season, but I can't bring myself to do so. Part of it is being a jilted lover but the other part is I am not sure they ever earned it. Not because they did not play well on the court but rather because they thought so little of Roy and their teammates to at least be straight with them concerning their plans.
So best wishes...I guess...though if down the road their career takes a rather even path into the mediocrity I will have a tough time not saying "I am glad they are someone else's problem."